Naruto: Present Tense
by SDI hyper
Summary: Squeal to 'Water.' Even 2000 years in the future history has a tendency to repeat itself, just not in the same way. Naru x Sas, Zabuza x Kakashi, Lee x Shikamaru, Iruka x Asuma
1. Default Chapter

Chapter one: Open road.

"That has to have been the worst storm I've ever seen." Gai said, walking outside in awe of the damages. Just about anything that wasn't a reinforced house or larger was blown away. Cars, Garages, streetlights, traffic lights, mailboxes, garage cans and other misc. items.

"Things look like they could have been worse." Lee said, "They were when this storm hit in my time."

Gai looked up at the sky, seeing the thick black clouds start to scatter letting a few rays of sun shine on to the city "How do you know it was the same storm?"

"I could feel the Chakra, it was everywhere." Shikamaru told him. "It seemed like the same amount as before but compared to what happened in the past…there are hardly any damages."

"Well your right, it dose look like it could have been worse." Gai agreed, looking toward his garage, or at lest where it used to be. "Doesn't look like my car would have survived the storm anyway."

"Where is Kabuto?" Sarutobi asked from his desk, he had a lot of work to do now that the storm was over. Which meant a lot of paper work for him among other things. Sarutobi was on the phone desperately trying to reach Ebisu while calling for Kabuto. He needed to start getting reports on the damages.

And of course all of the hard phone lines above ground where knocked out along with the power lines. But the White house had everything underground, including a phone line. And the only way Sarutobi was going to reach Ebisu was through his cell phone…and there was little chance that would work.

Finally one of his other assistance came, no doubt a replacement for Kabuto. A woman with blond hair and a black dress wearing a blazer over it, holding a clipboard under her arm and a nervous expression on her face. She obviously wanted to do well, seeing that this was here first time in front of Sarutobi. "Uh, Mr. President sir, Kabuto left before the storm."

"Alright, then I'll need you to get people out there and bring back damage reports. I want to know death, injuries and estimated cost, but first make sure all of the hospitals had adequate support to handle the wounded." Sarutobi said.

The woman quickly took a few notes on his directions, then gave him a half nod before walking out of the room. "Hold on." Sarutobi called, thinking it would be better if he gave one more direction then to wait idle to find out on his own later. "Find Ebisu."

"Yes Sir." The woman walked away completely this time. But not a second later Ebisu ran into the room, soaking wet with a few cuts and bruises on him.

"What happened to you?" Sarutobi asked.

"No time for that Sir, Konohamaru is gone." Ebisu said, trying to catch his breath with each word.

"What!" Sarutobi yelled in surprise, "What do you mean he's gone."

"We have reason to believe he's left Konoha." No one really knew how Ebisu managed to find that out after searching a small percentage of the city, but Ebisu knew Konohamaru, and he was good at gathering and piecing together information.

"How did he get out? I specifically told the workers at the city gates-"

"He used the storm." Ebisu said. "He used the storm as cover to get out of the city…The only road he possibly could have used was…the East one, it was being prepared for the storm so security most likely had been lower. There was no way he could have gotten out on any other road."

Sarutobi sighed, this was partly his fault. He should have never let Konohamaru leave the building, or sent someone after him sooner. There was no way he was going to make that same mistake twice, the only way to do that was to send someone after Konohamaru right now. Why not the person in front of him? Konohamaru only managed to get away from him 2 times, one of them he couldn't be held responsible for.

"Ebisu, take what ever you need and go find him." He said.

"Yes Sir." Ebisu gave a quick salute and moved with haste out of the room. 'Whatever I need huh….' With that thought he headed the first place he could think of going. It would be pointless to use a car to go after another car with that big of a lead, he needed something faster.

The next logical way to go after him was by air. A small airplane would be too much of a hassle to handle, he'd lose time while landing and taking off. 'I need something more maneuverable then that.' He folded his arms as he took a back exit to the White house, heading for his car.

His mind jumped to the idea of using one of the Air Forces fighter planes as he climbed into his car and put his key into the ignition. 'No, Konoha may need every single one of them if that Sound attack dose happen.'. Shaking that idea away, the next thing that came to his mind was Helicopter…'That may work.'

Konohamaru lay stretched out on the back seat with one leg hanging off. Brown eyes drifted to the sky, watching the clouds of a blue sky begin to darken into shades of orange from an approaching sun set. He had to admit, they'd only been gone for a few hours and he was already feeling better.

Relaxed, and with pent up anger subsiding, Konohamaru was able to let himself start to drift off to sleep. "Sasuke?" He called out sleepily with his eyes falling closed.

"Huh?" Sasuke easily could look back because the road was empty, there was no way he'd hit anything.

"Where are we going?"

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, he'd fallen asleep a few minutes ago…he never looked so clam and peaceful. "No where in particular, but if you really want to know here's a map." Sasuke reached down in-between his seat for a folded up map, tossing it back to Konohamaru.

The boy let it land on his chest with no attempt to catch it "Doesn't matter I guess." he left the map there, finally drifting off to sleep.

Sasuke looked back at him and smiled, a small one that was barely visible but there none the less. Turning back he watched the road roll past them, it didn't really mater where they were going, as long as they stopped for something to eat. He was pretty sure that when Naruto woke up he'd be hungry, the boy was an endless pit.

At lest he was happy.

"…What time is it?" Naruto mumbled sleepily, suddenly risen from his slumber by the feel of the car slowing down.

"2 in the morning." Sasuke said. Naruto yawned and opened his eyes. Finding that sometime during the course of his sleep he had let the seat recline all the way back to the point where it was almost on top of Konohamaru's leg. His vision was greeted by the black night sky illuminated by stars he'd never seen before and a moon he could swear was never this bright.

'I've never seen the sky so bright, must be because all of the lights in the city.' Naruto continued staring upward, picking out constellations that he'd never was able to pick out before.

Sasuke turned off the car and got out, opting to lay back on the hood resting his head on the windshield and looking into the darkness on the road ahead. He never realized how dark it was with out street lights or the other lights of the city, he could barely see to the outline of the canopies of distant trees against the star filled sky. "Sasuke?" Naruto called out, not bothering to sit up because he knew where the boy was.

"What?"

"Where are we?"

"Dose it matter?"

"Not really, but I would like to know how far we've gotten."

"I'd say about 400 miles, there's a gas station a few more ahead."

Naruto pulled himself up, jumping on to the hood of the car from the seat and landing almost gracefully on the hood next to Sasuke. "You must be tired from driving that far." Naruto said.

"Not really." Sasuke said, sliding off the car and stretching his legs a little.

Naruto jumped off, the car and wrapped his arms around Sasuke's waist "Yes you are, you look sleepy." He pressed his lips to Sasuke's neck and began sucking lightly, he could feel the tension releasing from the boy under him and a soft vibration as Sasuke moaned lightly.

Naruto leaned forward more, standing on his toes to reach over the taller Sasuke. But he leaned just a little farther then expected and found himself off balance, Naruto fell forward, dragging Sasuke with him. Both of them landed off the road into the soft grass on the field below.

"Uh…Oops." Naruto said with a sheepish grin, finding that he was on top of a Sasuke who was laying on his stomach.

"You meant to do that." Sasuke accused, rolling on to his back so he was facing Naruto, wrapping his arms around his neck and pulling him into a kiss.

Naruto pulled back just enough so that he could speak, "I'm starting to wish I had." he said, watching Sasuke smirk and kissing those soft lips again. Naruto's hands began drifting up from Sasuke's waist, along his sides, under his shirt.

Sasuke's tongue started searching the other's mouth, letting go of Naruto's neck and instead wrapping his arms around his waist. His hands slipped into Naruto's pants and under his boxers, his fingers easily finding a Naruto's entrance and pushing two of them inside.

"Uhaaa." Naruto moaned softly, with his hands planted on Sasuke's chest his body arched back of it's own accord. Sasuke let another grin spread across his lips as he watched Naruto's face, he pulled his free hand back, slowly unbuttoning Naruto's pants and letting the boy's erection free.

But it seemed Naruto had beat him to it, "aaah…" Sasuke let a moan escape, feeling Naruto lay his body on his with both hands down Sasuke's black pants around his hard cock. Naruto moved his hands along the length with a hasted speed, pushed faster by Sasuke's thrusting fingers inside of him.

"Sa-Sasuke!" Naruto moaned, feeling a soft wetness fall onto his head from an approaching rain. It only added to the pleasure, heightening everything. Naruto began bucking backwards on to Sasuke's fingers, driving the appendages deeper inside him while Naruto gently nibbled at Sasuke's ear.

"Na….Naru…" Sasuke began thrusting upward into Naruto's hands, managing to keep pace with his administrations on the other boy. Each movement of his fingers pushed Naruto closer and closer to his limit, that much was apparent by how much Naruto was panting in his ear.

A small groan slipped out of Naruto before he bit his lip and shifted his hips away from Sasuke. A spurt of cum followed from the softening cock on to the grass, finally letting Naruto release a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

During all of that Naruto didn't even notice his hands were now covered in Sasuke's cum. 'Eh?"' Naruto watched as a half-lidded Sasuke finally closed his eyes completely and his mind drifted towards sleep. 'I guess he was tired.' Naruto said smiling to himself.

He re-buttoned his pants and scooped Sasuke into his arms, carrying him up to the car and sitting him in the passenger seat. 'I finally get to drive!' Naruto shouted to himself, jumping into the driver's seat and pressing the button to raise the roof over the car. 'Let's see what this thing can-….Aw damnit Sasuke.' Naruto wined, noticing from the gauge that the gas tank was near empty.

Naruto shrugged and reached over to buckle up the sleeping Sasuke before accelerating. The small pull after being idle for so long seemed to make Konohamaru stir and awaken.

The boy reached up and lifted his goggles from over his eyes before using the headrest on the seat to pull himself out of a laying position. "Naruto? What time is it?"

Naruto grinned. "2:30, about time you woke up, you've been asleep for 10 whole days."

"What?" Konohamaru gasped in surprise.

"Just kidding." Naruto told him with a small laugh.

Konohamaru shook his head a reached forward, attempting to turn on the radio but slipping due to an attempt to expand his already expended reach. He accidentally hit the button next to it, immediately hearing a small sound of gears. The panel with the radio flipped over revealing a TV screen that expended outward some and expanded to 5 inches from 2.

"Whoa, cool." Konohamaru said, it was touch screen so everything from changing the channel to the volume was done thusly.

"You know there's nothing on but infomercials." Naruto said.

Konohamaru shrugged and pressed the button to flip it back into the radio. He sat back, looking up when he saw lights, which Naruto was driving towards, "Where are we going?"

"Out of gas." Naruto said plainly, turning into the Gas Station and pulling up next to nearest pump, #1. Naruto turned off the engine and got out of the car, walking towards the station to pay.

Inside the small building his eyes were greeted by the sight of endless waves of junk food on shelves. "Well…I'm kind of hungry." Naruto said looking down at his stomach. With a wide smile he walked through the shelves, mentally dividing how much money he'd need to fill up the tank. It left a lot of room for snacks.

Naruto grabbed a few bags of chips, moving down the row and grabbing some assorted candy. Including but not limited to Skittles, Starburst and M&Ms. Then he nearly dropped it all when he saw the Instant Ramen, there was a string on top, it was designed so that all someone had to do was pull the string and it became hot and ready to eat in a few minutes.

His smile growing wider, Naruto grabbed about 10 or however many he could hold at once then dumped it all on the counter in front of Casher. A young woman with long brown hair down to her shoulders and a blue apron looked down at him in awe, "Now what is a cute little kid like you doing in some place like this so late?" She asked friendly.

Naruto never thought he'd hear something like _that_ from _anyone_, it would have never happened in Konoha. This whole trip was almost worth that small statement. Naruto rubbed the back of his head "Taking a Roadtrip."

"Is that why your buying all of this junk?" She said with a humorous tone as she rang up the items. "If your not careful you'll rot your teeth out."

Naruto couldn't help but think of how she reminded him of Iruka and how he always looked after him in this manner. "I'm not going to eat all of it by my self…well maybe the ramen."

"I'd keep the ramen to my self too…but it's good to hear your not out here alone, I wouldn't want something to happen to someone as adorable as you." The woman smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair lightly.

"Huh? Really?"

"Of course. I don't want you to get hurt, and things can get dangerous."

Naruto blushed and paid her the money for the food along with the gas. It was a struggle to hold it all at once by he managed. "See ya." Naruto called as he walked out side.

"Bye kid, stay safe." The woman gave a small wave and returned to her duties.

Naruto found Konohamaru going through his and Sasuke's CD's upon his return. He dropped all of it into the backseat and started pumping gas into the empty car. "Look at all of this stuff." Konohamaru said, looking over the items.

"Yeah, should last a while." Naruto said, happier then usual as he looked on to Sasuke sleeping form. It was strange how a few words could make that much of a deference.


	2. Chapter 2: Pursuit

Chapter 2: Pursuit

"I'm awake now." Sasuke said, "Let me drive."

Naruto turned to him and grinned, "No way! This car is way too fun."

Sasuke shook his head, seeing that he wasn't going to be able to get back in the driver's seat…yet. He sat back and looked out the window, what else was there to do. The silence was nice, calming, and peace was great, but his companions might get a little bored with it.

Sasuke glanced back at Konohamaru, who seemed to be alright with it for now. He was laying back in his usual position, stretched out completely with one leg hanging off the seat. He had his hands behind his head and his goggles down over his eyes with a small smile across his lips.

Konohamaru probably would get bored eventually, even though he was used to long stretches of traveling being the President's grandson. Sasuke figured they should probably stop somewhere, what's a road trip with out seeing anything?

"Hey Sasuke." Naruto said, casually letting the seat back some and glancing at him sideways. "Let's stop at the next town or something."

That could work.

"Alright." Sasuke reached behind him and picked the map off the floor, he glanced at the odometer. It was at Zero when the left Konoha, 568 now, and with that he was able to find out where they were, considering that they'd been taking the same road since they started.

"The next town is a few miles ahead."

! - ! - !

"Look at all this stuff I won." Konohamaru said excitedly, sorting through everything he'd gotten as a prize at an amusement park. Which was just about everything he could carry, and when he really wanted something he could carry a lot.

"I never knew you were good at all that stuff." Naruto said. Konohamaru had played just about every game at the park.

"I had a lot of practice." Konohamaru said proudly.

"Really, When?" Sasuke asked.

"Uh…" Konohamaru rubbed his head trying to think of a quick excuse. He couldn't exactly tell Sasuke that he'd learned just about every thing he used from Itachi and Kisame. He'd learned aiming from Kisame, which he used in darts and a few other games.

! -! -!

Some time around a year ago.

"See that's your problem." Kisame said, he and Konohamaru were in shooting range in the basement of Kisame's house. Which was more of just a hide out because he was never really there, and the basement was more of training center. There was just about everything anyone could need to do so.

Itachi leant against the wall just watching, this really didn't help Kisame's argument that he wasn't attached to Konohamaru. "Either your thinking to much, or the type of person that's not thinking enough." Kisame said, standing behind him and raising Konohamaru's arms a little bit.

Konohamaru held the gun outward, for a second wondering why he was even learning this now. It was either now or 2 years later in military school, and Kisame seemed like a much better teacher. "What do you mean?" Konohamaru asked,

Kisame looked over him, noticing something was wrong "First off, your not holding it right." Kisame raised Konohamaru's hands a bit over the handle, he just wasn't strong enough to hold it he way he was thinking about holding it. "And since you completely suck at aiming."

Kisame pressed a button in front of the trigger, turning on the laser sight. "Use this first, and put one leg back." Kisame said. Konohamaru closed an eye and put one leg back some for support. Then he aimed at the target about 100 feet away, lining up the sight with the bull's-eye and pulling the trigger.

Konohamaru felt the strain of the gun pushing back when he fired, forcing his arms to bend back some but managed to hold it this time thanks to Kisame's hints. "See how easy that was?" Kisame said, reaching down and turning off the laser sight. "Now you remember where that red line started?"

Konohamaru nodded, it started just under the barrel of the gun. "Now picture it in your head and take the same shot." Kisame told him. Konohamaru closed one eye, remembering exactly how the laser looked when it shined outward from the gun. He pictured that line and aimed accordingly right before firing the shot.

He hit halfway between the top of the target and the bull's-eye. "Keep practicing kid." Kisame pulled his gun out a holster under his shirt. A sliver gun with a brown handle and a long barrel, A .44 Magnum with special 44 caliber incinerating rounds. Kisame made them himself being an expert in ammunition.

He held the gun outward with one hand a fired a single shot through the bull's-eye, small flames spread outward from the hole in a widening circle, turning the target into nothing but ashes. "You'll get it eventually."

!- !- !

Nope, not a good story to tell Sasuke.

He learned how to target and hit moving object's from Itachi, a big help in quite a few other games.

!- ! -!

A few months ago.

Kisame's shooting range was set up much like the one in the police academy, which was most likely where he got the design. Konohamaru and Itachi stood past the booths, which was now a panel of bullet proof glass thanks to a few presses of a few buttons.

Konohamaru barely got down the targeting training Kisame had gave him and he was moving on to moving targets. Konohamaru held the gun outward, watching the target move across the wall, he turned towards it, firing a shot at it. He had a little strength and experience with a gun now so he didn't have to put his leg back to support himself anymore. But he didn't even hit the target.

He turned and followed the moving target, emptying the clip but not managing to hit each time. "I can't do it." Konohamaru said.

"You give up too easily." Itachi said, taking the gun, pulling out the empty clip and replacing it with a full one. Itachi held out the 9mm to his side, hitting the center to of the target with out even looking. Then he handed the gun back to Konohamaru.

"Whoa! How did you do that?" Konohamaru said in amazement.

"Simply put, your trying to follow that target then shoot. You need to fire where it's going to be and not where it's been." Itachi said.

"Alright." Konohamaru turned to the target moving in circles around the room, it was behind him now. 'Where it's going to be…' Konohamaru closed one eye, looking at the track the target was on, from there he could easily tell where it was going to be. Konohamaru aimed the gun in front of the target, visualizing where the bullet was going to hit and then firing.

Hit fired too early and a few inches to high to hit the center, but he did manage to hit the target this time.

Itachi ruffled the boy's hair and smiled in an manner that said good job "Keep practicing."

"Isn't there any more tips you can tell me?" Konohamaru asked.

"There's no easy way to becoming skilled or powerful, it takes hard work and practice. That's the only way." Itachi said, walking away and leaving Konohamaru to think about it.

!- ! - !

! - ! - !

"Around." Konohamaru decided just to go with a safe answer.

Sasuke turned back towards the road, he managed to get to the driver's seat before Naruto could even think about it. And they left the city on the same road that entered from, so they where on the same course as before. It didn't turn out to be a good thing they chose this road again, for more then one reason. The first was about to make itself apparent.

Konohamaru laid back down in his usual position, about to pulled down his goggles over his eyes when he spotted something in the air…more like heard something. "Hey…What's that?" Konohamaru asked, reaching forward and turning the radio off, then looking backwards into the sky.

"It's a helicopter." Naruto said, squinting his eyes from the unusual sight. "It's flying kind of low."

Sasuke looked into the rear-view mirror, tilting it upward so he could see in to the sky. With his sharp eyes he was able to see a sign on the side of it. The letters were backwards but he could easily read backwards. "That's a Konoha police department helicopter."

"Wow." Naruto said looking back at the approaching vehicle "I thought they would have come after us a lot sooner."

Everyone looked up as the green and white helicopter flew over them in a rush of generated wind. Now in front of the black car, the helicopter turned around and began flying backwards. Giving those in the car a chance to see those in the cockpit and vice versa, It was Ebisu along with his usual team of 3 other men and a pilot.

Ebisu hung out of the side of the helicopter, pushing the microphone of a headset towards his mouth. It seemed to be directly connected to the loudspeaker. "Stop the car!" Ebisu called.

"What do we do now?" Naruto asked.

Konohamaru lent forward between the driver's and passenger's seat. "Sasuke, can I see your phone."

"Why?"

"I'm going to call Ebisu." Konohamaru said. Sasuke pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it back to Konohamaru. With the item in hand, Konohamaru sat back and buckled up. Then dialing the number to Ebisu's cell phone. It apparently went through because they could see Ebisu pull his own out of his pocket and hold it up to his ear.

"No way Ebisu!" Konohamaru shouted, "Your not taking me back this time, not after all the work we went through to get out!"

"Stop the car or I'll fire!" Ebisu said, they could see the pilot reach up and flip a few switches, lowering the machine guns on both sides.

"Now what?" Naruto asked.

"He won't hit us, he'll aim for the tires." Sasuke said, shifting gears and accelerating. The car sped under the helicopter and went forward. Looking back they could see the Police helicopter turn around and come after them, both gun's blazing, blowing two lines of shots along the ground trailing after them.

"Hold on." Sasuke warned, abruptly turning the steering wheel to the left as far as he could and hitting the breaks. The car spent around stopping in the completely opposite direction, Sasuke shifted the car in reverse and started driving backwards, then pulling a gun from a holster under his shirt.

With his eyes he could quickly target, in this case it happened to be the left machine gun on the approaching helicopter. Driving with one hand and holding his gun with the other, Sasuke opened fire on the gun, with two shots he was able to send it up in flames and put it out of commission.

Somewhat surprised, the Helicopter veered to the left, flying close enough to the ground so that one of the railings almost hit the windshield. "Whoa, that was so cool." Konohamaru said in amazement of Sasuke's skills.

"Don't get too happy yet, he's coming back around." Naruto said.

Sasuke nodded and did a similar move as before, whipping the car around in the opposite direction so they were driving forward and shifting gears again.

The Helicopter lifted into the air to avoid trees when maneuvering, it stopped completely and turned around to face the approaching car. "Stop now!" Ebisu yelled.

"Not a chance!" Konohamaru yelled in to the phone, hanging up on Ebisu and turning the cellular device off..

The Helicopter flew backwards again, firing with it's one remaining gun a the hood of the car, this time it's shooting was more precise. The trail of rapid machine gun bullets started a few feet ahead of the car giving Sasuke no more then two seconds to react. He stayed calm and eased the steering wheel to the left, if he would have turned sharply he risked a spin and that would get them hit for sure.

The machine gun fire switched lanes directly after they did, one bullet hitting the side of the car just above the right-rear tire. Sasuke slowed down abruptly, enough to throw someone to of the car if they weren't wearing a seat belt.

Then he switched lanes and avoided being hit again, then accelerated, speeding under the helicopter and leaving it behind . "We have to lose him." Sasuke grunted, watching the Helicopter turn around and come at them again.

"I got it." Naruto said, taking Sasuke's gun and unbuckling himself. He checked the clip, finding plenty of bullets left, before climbing in to the back seat next to Konohamaru and turning towards the back of the car where Ebisu was trailing. Holding the gun outward, Naruto started firing at the remaining gun, the first shot knocking it off course.

A trail of bullets ran along the ground unaimed on the side of the car, Naruto was easily able to hit it now with no chances of his shot being deflected. He pulled the trigger again, firing two shots in to the junction where the gun connected to the Helicopter. Making it fall off and leaving Ebisu weaponless.

"You guys are good." Konohamaru complemented.

Naruto flashed his usual smirk but was almost knocked out of the car when the Helicopter rammed the rear bumper. "Pay attention dobe!" Sasuke shouted.

"Stop the car!" Ebisu shouted into the loud speaker, at this range the volume was enough to hurt their ears. The Helicopter starter ramming the car, lifting the rear off the ground a little each time.

"Damnit!" Sasuke yelled, trying to turn but that ramming was making it hard to do so with out going out of control. "The only way we're going to get him off of us is we take him out of the sky."

"How are we going to do that?" Konohamaru asked, clinching his scarf to keep it from being blown off from all the wind.

Naruto sat down, clinching the seat when the Helicopter rammed them again.

"Knowing Ebisu this is just a warning." Konohamaru said, "He's going to fly over us and pin us down. So what ever your going to do, do it now!"

Naruto looked back at Ebisu in the cockpit. "Sasuke, you got anything stronger then this?" He asked, holding up the handgun.

"In the trunk." Sasuke called back, reaching down and pressing the switch to open the trunk.

Naruto jumped over the seat and slid down the back of the car until he was against the trunk door. Then he jumped over it, landing in the trunk being pressed against the window of the Helicopter. Looking back at the 5 men in-side Naruto picked up a M4A1 riffle and smirked.

Realizing what he was going to do, Ebisu ordered the pilot to pin the car down. And just as Naruto expected, the Helicopter rose into the air above them. Giving him an opportunity of a second or two,

Lifting the gun, Naruto aimed for the tail from under the helicopter and opened fire. It burst into flames after a second of firing, immediately losing speed and dropping a few feet to the ground. "See ya around!" Naruto said, his smirk growing wider as he watched the furious expression on Ebisu's face when he emerged from the cockpit.

Sasuke slowed to a stop, allowing Naruto to put the gun back, close the trunk and jump back into the front seat. "See, I'm good." Naruto said cockily.

"That was luck Dead-Last." Sasuke said, turning on the first road he saw. It'd be too easy to follow them if they kept going strait.

"Whatever!" Naruto said, handing him back his handgun.


	3. Chapter 3: The wages of war

Chapter 3: The wages of war:

After that small bit of excitement, it was back to the expansive open road. Which was fine for the three of them as long as Naruto stopped for something to eat and Konohamaru could get out and stretch every 100 miles or so.

Konohamaru lent over the armrest compartment in-between the driver and the passenger seat to change the channel on the TV built into Sasuke's dashboard. Naruto was driving, this time with out any objection, surprisingly it had been by Sasuke's suggestion. Sasuke was sitting in the front seat watching Konohamaru flip through every channels he could get reception to.

He wasn't necessarily looking for anything to watch, he just wanted to play around with it. It was actually a little amusing which was the only reason Sasuke was still watching. Yeah, it was quiet as usual, which was a good thing. Ebisu hadn't been seen since Naruto took down his helicopter yesterday, but they knew they'd see him again eventually. It's nearly imposable to evade someone that persistent with every resource in Konoha behind him.

Sasuke looked out of the window, seeing that they were now passing over a large bridge with two levels, the bottom was connected to a tunnel on both ends and the top was connecting the regular road above ground. This was obviously a highway, Sasuke could tell that much from the 4 lanes.

Not a back road or even a non-highway interstate road. That's when the Uchiha's mind turned on again, he hadn't really been doing much thinking of his about for the last 2 days. Just enjoying this time in his usual silent manner and questing nothing but why Naruto had brought so much junk food when he could have spent that money on real food with some actual substance and nutritional value. He was surprised it lasted as long as it did.

Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, which he had gotten in the habit of doing occasionally. From his changed expression he could tell something had him in a slight dismay. "What's with you Sasuke?"

Sasuke continued to look over the bridge to the lake below, "Why hasn't there been any traffic on any of the roads we've been on?"

Naruto looked at him for a second, then at the road in front of him, Sasuke was right. "I don't know, maybe all of them are still shut down from the storm. It probably caused a lot of damage to road signs and traffic lights or something. "

That seemed like a logical answer, a quite good one in fact. Enough to shift the inquisition to the back of his mind…where it didn't seem to want to fad, it still nagged at him. "No sea traffic either." Sasuke knew that harbors around Konoha were usually busy, though he'd only been outside of the city few times because of the war. But there could be many other reasons for this.

Harbors and ports may not have been in a condition to accommodate any ships at the moment.

Pushing the question farther in the back of his mind, Sasuke relaxed again somewhat though he continued thinking. Not about anything in particular, just as something to do, what he always did. But this almost never ended up well, when Sasuke's thoughts wondered, they always seemed to be drawn back to that day… as if it was imprinted into his mind and it would make itself known everyone and awhile just so he wouldn't forget.

As if he really could.

The events of the past replayed itself to him as he glanced over at Konohamaru, the boy still seemed to be fairly content to continue playing with the TV. His long blue scarf fluttering in the wind behind him. His eyes were then drawn up to Naruto, who seemed completely relaxed, some how he managed to drive effectively, despite his size but pulled it off.

The expression on Sasuke's face changed from relaxed and at easy to serious and somewhat melancholy when he watched Naruto after thinking about what happened…

Konohamaru pressed the button to return the TV back to in to the dashboard, then sat back again. "Hey, do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Naruto asked, looking around for anything that could cause a sound or hoping to hear something besides the car. "I don't hear anything."

Sasuke too took a quick glance around his surroundings also, finding nothing on all other sides his eyes returned ahead. But that's when he did see something, his eyes went wide, with his sharp vision he could before anyone could. "Something's happening…" He said, pointing ahead, just above the trees on the other side of the bridge.

There was a small silence as Naruto and Konohamaru watched the spot, nothing unusual. Except for the fact that whatever sound Konohamaru was hearing became louder and louder each second. Everyone could hear it by then, hundreds of birds lifted from behind the cover of trees as a prelude to danger, similar to a fashion seen when an earthquake was about to hit an area.

This clearly wasn't an earthquake, but what was it?

"What's with the birds?" Naruto looked up questioningly, "Is that what you were hearing Konohamaru?"

The boy shook his head "No…It sounds like a really big engine or something like that."

"?" Driven more by curiosity, Naruto accelerated towards the end of the bridge in an attempt to reach a point where he could hear the same . The roar of the car engine rang through the air. Only to be muted by the louder roar of Jets engines in a 'V' formation of 6 Fighter Plaines passing over head. "Oh man, They look like they're getting ready to attack…who where they?"

Before they could even look back at the passing jets, they heard a new, louder sound from under them. Sasuke jumped out of the car along with Naruto and Konohamaru, all of them running to the edge of the road and looking at the bridge under them. From the underground tunnel emerged a large Tank, a sound emblem on the side.

"The sound attack!" Konohamaru shouted in realization, being the president's grandson he'd gained a lot of the country's secret information. Including the not so secret intelligence information on a possible Sound attack, that knowledge was apparently true because it was happening right now. "We're in the middle of it!"

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other with wide, surprised eyes, immediately dashing for the car with Sasuke taking the wheel. Konohamaru jumped in and buckled up while Sasuke made a sharp U-turn and headed in the opposite direction toward the road that they had just come from at full acceleration and speed.

Sasuke slowed down abruptly near the entrance of the bridge, seeing that another tank was waiting on the road. It had come up from the tunnel road and though the car was behind and out of it's vision the tank, they'd never be able to make it past. "Damnit! We have to get out of here…"

Sasuke shifted the car into reverse and tuned back the way he came, the other side of the bridge was relatively clear though it was heading into the direction the Sound forces where coming from.

"Oh man…we must be close to the Sound country." Naruto said, glancing over the bridge to the waters below where speed boats, also with the sound insigne rushed under them. Those smaller boats, though armed with mounted assault riffles on the top and who knows what else inside. Seemed to be only an escort for much larger ships.

Half of Konoha was on the edge of an ocean, so an assault by water would be highly effective. This was going to be a full force attack, that much was clear. "Look at all of that…" Naruto said with an almost fearful tone.

"Damn." Sasuke stopped abruptly again, seeing two black cars rushing full speed towards them. No one heard him though, they were all drowned out by the sounds of more fighter jet's over head and the constant rumble of tanks passing below. At lest 30 of the fighter planes had to have passed over by now.

"What do we do now?" Konohamaru asked, watching as Sasuke sat idle, thinking for a few seconds before he began moving again. Pulling his 9mm handgun from his hidden holster he tossed the weapon to Naruto. Then he unbuckled himself and got out the car. Sasuke ran to the trunk, shifting past his S.W.A.T issue riffle, though he didn't have enough time to grab the weapon or with 4 extra clips, the bulletproof vest or any of the riot gear stored.

It seemed he brought everything but what he was looking for "No…I left it behind." Sasuke sighed abandoning his search for the item. closing the trunk and getting back into the car.

By that time the two black cars were already on the bridge, but surprisingly they passed him as if he wasn't there. "What are you waiting for?" Naruto asked. "Let's go" He froze when he saw what those two black cars were leading. A huge trail of armored trucks all carrying Sound solders appeared on the road in front of them.

"There's no way out…" Sasuke's voice trailed off as he looked through the rear-view, still finding the tank blocking the entrance of the bridge. It became clear that that was it's purpose all along, to trap them in, not much else was known about the situation though. "Fuck! I should have seen something was wrong before." Sasuke slammed his fist into steering wheel out of anger.

Naruto sighed and put the gun into the glove compartment knowing it wouldn't help him. "Don't blame yourself." Naruto said plainly. "And if your going to give up, let me drive."

Sasuke looked over at him curiously, surprised when Naruto grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him from the driver's seat. In a jostle of grunts a curses Naruto made his way to the wheel and Sasuke ended up in the backseat with Konohamaru though he was originally intended to be in the passenger. "What the hell are you doing dobe!" Sasuke shouted.

"If I'm going down, I'm going down fighting." Naruto said, clinching the wheel and revving the engine before shifting gears and driving forward. Heading straightforward into the sea of incoming armored trucks. As soon as he made it off the bridge he was already going head first into one of the larger vehicles.

Despite his small size and, at first glance, his awkwardness when behind the wheel. Naruto was a decent driver, he turned to the left to avoid the first truck, then veered to the right to move past the second truck. Staying in the right lane, he past 3 more on coming trucks at full speed before he was force to break by one armored truck blocking both lanes. "Hey guys." Naruto said, unlocking his door. "What do you think the chances are of getting away on foot?"

Naruto opened the door and got out of the car, only to find that on closer inspection the truck blocking their way was completely empty. The other vehicles flowed past undisrupted in the opposite lanes of the 4 lane highway, blocking them in completely. "What the hell!" Naruto said, glancing inside the empty vehicle he expected men to come out what happened after that would be up to speculation.

The wind picked up unnaturally, and as if triggered by it., the line of trucks in the other lane stopped. Looking up, it could be seen that they stopped to clear a path for a black Helicopter that descended on to the road for a landing. "Why didn't I see something was wrong earlier…" Sasuke said to himself, glancing down at Konohamaru who was standing next to him.

The boy didn't seem fearful of the situation, though he knew what was happening. He was more curious then afraid.

The 3 of them watched as a man with long black hair and a pale completion emerged. He was wearing body armor of thick Kevlar body armor with the Sound insignia in the center along with blue pants made with at lest 10 layers of the material. Holstered on both of his hips were 2 Mac 11 sub-machine guns and an replacement clip for each.

The blue clad man walked over them, followed by 3 other men with assault riffles.

"Do we know you?" Sasuke snorted, looking over the man in the center leading the other 3/

"Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto." The man smirked when he came upon Konohamaru. "And the President of the Leaf's grandson."

Konohamaru glared at him, the man didn't even use his name, just 'the president's grandson'. He hated that…And who was this person that couldn't even use his name?…Konohamaru's eyes narrowed when he realized that he recognized him, he pointed angrily "That's Orochimaru, he's the guy in charge of the Sound Country…you were in charge of the unit who killed my parents."

Sasuke and Naruto looked back at Konohamaru then at Orochimaru, things were making a little more sense now. "Ok, why the hell do you want us?" Naruto asked, Orochimaru clearly wanted to trap them, and he went about it in a matter so simple that Sasuke found it insulting to his intelligence.

Orochimaru smirked, lifting his hand and waving two fingers toward Naruto, Sasuke and Konohamaru.

! - ! - !

Kabuto lifted the Id card around his neck and swiped it through a card reader. A red light indicating the lock was in effect shifted to green and the elevator doors rolled open. With suit case in hand, the man walked inside, watching the doors close behind him. He hit the button for the bottom floor, and now that he was sure no one could hear him, he lifted his hand to an earpiece hidden behind his ear.

"What is your position?" He asked.

Whoever was on the other side responded readily "A half hour outside of Konoha, what are our next orders?" The man asked.

"Send the planes into stealth mode, I'll disable the radar systems from here." Kabuto said "But you'll only have a 5minute window so be over Konoha in 30 minutes exactly. Has Orochimaru secured Konohamaru?"

"Yes sir."

Kabuto sighed in relief, he was the one originally suppose to abduct Konohamaru. Around this time too, if everything was supposed to go as planed he had to kidnap Konohamaru at 10:45 a.m, 2 minutes ago. That would give him enough time to get to his current position, which was the lower level of Konoha's national defense and armed forces authority center. From there he'd sabotage the radar systems and use a helicopter to escape the city during that 5 minute window the Sound air forces would use to get over the city.

Of course his plan hit a snag when Konoha suddenly disappeared from town, it almost threw the whole thing off. That attack on Konoha was only one half of it, Konohamaru's capture played a large part in the plan. So naturally Orochimaru wasn't too happy to find out that Konohamaru escaped, but with the Sound's surveillance network he was able to find him again before it was too late. And this time he decided to take Konohamaru himself to make sure there wasn't any mix up, by now he was taking him back to Orochimaru's headquarters.

"Then have all of the ground and sea units go into stand by _until _the air strike starts." Kabuto said, letting go of his ear and disabling the microphone when the elevator got to the next floor.

"Understood." the man said.

He walked into a large room, the elevator was built in the center of it. It was full of computer terminals with 3 large screens sitting on every wall but the east one. Despite it's size an the large number of equipment, there were only 6 people in the room at there post. That also was Kabuto's doing, being a member of the president's direct personnel he was able to draw away the other 24 workers before they made it to there stations. They of course ended up dead, which left only the rest of these men.

Kabuto reached under his suit coat and drew out a 9mm handgun with a sight on the top and a silencer on the barrel. He shot the closest person in the head, alerting the other 5 unarmed men. Kabuto was able to take out 2 more of the men before they had a chance to move while the remaining 3 went for the alarm system panic button. Of course they never made it, leaving all of the systems free for him to manipulate.


	4. Chapter 4: Dangerous minds part 1

Chapter 4: Dangerous minds part 1

Kisame abruptly hit the breaks and began staring outward into the road, luckily traffic was low when he did this so no one was behind him. "What the hell…?"

Itachi glanced over at him "What?" for once not noticing something before Kisame did, then turned toward the road to see what had cause this reaction. Kisame opened the door and stepped out of the car, knelling down beside something unknown in front of the wheel. Itachi followed, noticing what had caused Kisame to react in that manner.

There it was, a blue scarf laying in the middle of a road near downtown in the Sound country's capital. No one else wore a something like this in the middle of summer besides" It's Konohamaru's." Kisame easily confirmed it, not that it was hard to recognize it. "What the hell is that damn kid doing here?"

Itachi looked at the fabric and then around at the road they were on, it seemed they had some tracking to do. "Something must have happened to him." Itachi said, both of them knew that it was Konohamaru's favorite thing in the world, he would never leave this _anywhere_ let alone the middle of the street.

! - ! -!

Konohamaru gasped and his eyes shot open as he abruptly woke up after being knocked out who knows how long ago. Panting heavily, he looked around frantically as his blurry vision slowly sharpened. Along with sight came all of his senses, and dulling pain on the back of his head from when Orochimaru knocked him out.

He was sitting in a chair, both of his hands handcuffed behind him along with his ankles. He was in an office…no, it was just a completely empty room with hardwood floors. The only light existent was the outline of sunlight in the window behind closed blinds in back of him, it just barely gave him enough light to see Orochimaru along with 2 other armed men standing behind him.

Orochimaru silently waved them away, they nodded and walked out of the door someplace behind Konohamaru. "Finally awake." Orochimaru took a step closer to Konohamaru, only a portion of h is face could be seen by the small amount of light, the rest was covered in shadow.

"Where is Sasuke and Naruto?" Konohamaru shouted, glaring at the man furiously.

"They're…Alive." Orochimaru smirked when he said this, filling Konohamaru with fear for his friend's current conditions.

"…Why"

"I'm sure you want to know why I went through the trouble of capturing you." Orochimaru interrupted. "I'll get to the point, I want answers about Konoha."

Konohamaru tensed, at first he thought his abduction was just to send a message to his grandfather, a ransom maybe. But this was even worse, somehow Orochimaru found out how much he knew about the Leaf, military included. Unusually his age and clumsy appearance would discredit anyone's ideas that Konohamaru knew anything of value, but not Orochimaru, which meant very bad news for Konohamaru and possibly Konoha.

"What are you talking about?" Konohamaru asked confusedly, but his ploy didn't work. Orochimaru could see how uneasy his body was by how he clinched the chair, and eyes never lied, the nervousness could easily be seen within the brown orbs.

Orochimaru smirked, "If you tell me now, I'll take it easy on you."

Konohamaru also knew about the Leaf's main enemy, Orochimaru was not a force to be taken lightly. His threats weren't either, what ever he had planed for Konohamaru would no doubt be painful on more then one level. Maybe not physically, maybe all physical, either way Konohamaru wasn't looking forward to it, there were stories about what Orochimaru did to interrogate people. He swallowed hard and shook his head "I don't know what your talking about."

"Shame really…" Orochimaru took a few steps back, his body enveloped in darkness and unable to be seen anymore. "You see Konohamaru, I know all about you. I have my _sources_ in Konoha that tell me everything about you. How much you know, who you friends are, what you like, what your biggest fears are."

Orochimaru returned with the keys to the handcuffs in his hands, dangling them freely above Konohamaru mockingly. "I'm sure if you won't tell us, you must have told something to Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. I'm sure they'll tell us what they know." Orochimaru smiled as Konohamaru's eyes grew wide and a small, almost nonexistent gasp escaped from his mouth. "Ready to tell me now?"

He couldn't, he just couldn't tell Orochimaru anything, Konohamaru bit his lip and shook his head again. "I don't know anything, leave them alone." He couldn't help but wonder what Orochimaru's _sources_ were.

"They're being taken care of, don't worry about them, you should be more concerned about your fate." Orochimaru lifted his foot and sent a sharp kick into Konohamaru's stomach, knocking all of the air out of his lungs and forcing his chair to fall backwards. The landing was possibly just as painful as the kick.

His hands were pressed down under the weight of his body and the back of the chair making the handcuffs dig into his wrist. And his head slammed into the ground painfully, but that was the least of his problems. Orochimaru pressed his foot down on Konohamaru's chest and lent over him, some how during that process he'd retrieved a vile and a needle full of green liquid.

"This is a chemical agent that completely paralyzes the body, after injected the effects start within a few second and it's completely permanent unless I give you the antidote. As you can imagine it will be quite an unpleasant experience. " Orochimaru pushed the needle into a fearful Konohamaru's arm, injecting the green liquid into his bloodstream.

Konohamaru immediately felt his body go numb, instinctively beginning to squirm and struggled against his restraint, trashing about wildly under Orochimaru's foot who seemed to have no problem holding him down. But it seemed just as soon as he started, Konohamaru's wild trashing became less and less until it was non-existent. Konohamaru found himself unable to move anything, as if he was trapped in his body, nothing was responding, not even his lungs.

He just lay there, mouth slightly open and his eyes half-lidded, he looked almost at peace despite the fact that he was screaming inside of his head and trying most of all to just simply breath. But no matter what he did or how hard he tried his longs wouldn't respond to him and he still couldn't breath. Orochimaru knew it was working when he saw tears stream from wonton eyes down a calm face. "After 3 minutes without air the brain begins to die...you got about 1 left then."

Orochimaru held up a clear liquid in a needle that contained the antidote, watching his watch in his other hand. "Remember this feeling Konohamaru, if you don't corporate you and both of your friends will have an excruciating death." Orochimaru knelt down and injected the fluid in to Konohamaru.

The boy was still for a moment as if it didn't work, but as soon as he could move again he took a deep breath and began coughing uncontrollably . The coughing was made worse by Konohamaru constantly gasping for air while his body wouldn't let him stop.

! - ! - !

Naruto, now only with his black pants on, let out a loud and sudden cry when he felt himself being punched in the stomach. He only shook his head and smirked. "That's it? I've been through worse." He said dismissingly, his hands bound behind his back and his legs cuffed together in an empty office. 2 men, one of them being Kidomaru one of Orochimaru's generals. He stayed behind for a very specific task, he had on the same uniform Orochimaru had on.

They were trying not to kill him, only to draw information, but it wasn't easy. Since Naruto was used to this type of treatment it was hard to coarse him by it. "Damn kid." Kidomaru grunted, grabbing Naruto by his hair and driving his head into his knee. Naruto stumbled back, spitting out some blood from his mouth.

"Bastard." Naruto shot back, only to be lifted off the ground by his head as a reply, which was being squeezed tightly by Kidomaru. The man carried him to an open window and held him out of it still with an increasingly firmer and painful grip on his head. '!' Naruto tried to be as still as possible, hoping that the man wouldn't just left him go so he wouldn't fall what looked as if 20 stories to his death.

He was in a tall skyscraper, made of silver steel and highly reflexive glass. He would have admired the fact that he could see himself in it if he wasn't in so much pain hovering over a fatal fall. He was 2 floors under a large bridge that connected this building to the one next to it , another lay about 10 stories down. 'Sasuke and Konohamaru could be anywhere in either one of these buildings…'

"We don't need you to live, we already have Konohamaru. So you keep talking like that and I may have to drop you." Kidomaru pulled him back inside abruptly, tossing him into the opposite wall. Naruto let out another loud yelp of pain as he slammed into the barrier and fell to the ground, pushing against the handcuffs binding his hands behind him.

Naruto shook his head in an attempt to reorient himself, only to be pulled to his feet by his head again. Somewhat wobbly, Naruto managed to stand up. "Did Konohamaru tell you anything about Konoha?"

"No." Naruto said truthfully.

Kidomaru sent another kick into the defenseless Naruto's stomach, dropping him to his knees. "Your lying, how the hell could he not tell you _anything_?"

"I'm not lying!" Naruto shouted back, only to get a swift punch to the jaw that once again knocked him to the ground. Kidomaru grabbed him by the handcuffs around his wrist and pulled him up again painfully by his arms.

"I'm not playing around here kid." Kidomaru said, which might not be the complete truth considering his personality. "Start talking."

Naruto rolled his eyes, managing to get a swift punch to the temple for that, Kidomaru didn't bother to pick him up again this time. "I already told you I"

"Wrong answer." Kidomaru gave Naruto a light kick to the face while the other man handed him a vile filled with the same drug Orochimaru used on Konohamaru. "Fine have it your way." Kidomaru knelt down by Naruto as the other man handed him a needle.

"Wait, what's that?" Naruto asked uneasily, he didn't like the thought of anyone injecting anything into him, but despite his question Kidomaru did it anyway, forcing the liquid into his shoulder. "What did you just do!" Naruto shouted, feeling a numbness wash over his body.

Kidomaru only watched as Naruto's body went completely still and silent, the same that happened in Konohamaru happened to him. "Maybe now you'll listen!" Kidomaru sent another kick into Naruto's stomach but got no sound in response as all the other times. No tensing or resistance either, just a limp body that absorbed the impact.

Though he didn't show it, Naruto's mind was racing, desperately, begging for release of this hellish prison. And the pain of Kidomaru only added to it, he almost wished he had something to tell just to make it stop. But it didn't stop, Kidomaru's blows only grew harder and harder until the man suddenly stopped and injected another substance into his body.

Naruto felt that numbness return, and with it came movement of his body and his lungs started to function again. He coughed and panted heavily, taking large gulps of the air and cringing from the pain in his torso.

"Damnit!" Naruto shouted "Do you really think Konohamaru would tell me national secrets? He probably doesn't know anything himself!"

Kidomaru lifted the boy by his shoulders and pushed him into the wall, "We're not stupid, intelligence told us just how much he knows."

Naruto could only look at him and laugh, not because he was in anyway amused but to emphasize his next statement. "There's no way intelligence could ever get something like that about Konohamaru, he's with me most of the time."

"I doubt he lives with you, there are plenty of opportunities to get information on Konohamaru." Kidomaru said plainly.

"No way, you couldn't get someone to watch him in the white house, security is to tight." Naruto said in disbelief.

"Your such a dumbass, of course we have someone watching everything that happens, the president's right-hand man in fact." Kidomaru said with a smirk.

"No way…you don't mean that guy Kabuto do you?" It didn't take Naruto long to figure out who the president's right hand man could possibly be.

"Of course that's who I mean you idiot. We know Konohamaru has a lot of information, and there's no way a kid like that wouldn't tell either of you."

"Either of you? You mean Sasuke? Where is he!"

"He's going to be dead if you don't hurry up and start talking."

"I don't know anything Damnit!" Naruto was quickly chastised with a strong punch to his jaw.

"Have it your way, we start from square one."

He wasn't a cop's boyfriend for nothing, he knew how to get out of handcuffs, he was only waiting for the right opportunity.


	5. Chapter 5: Dangerous minds part 2

Chapter 5: Dangerous minds part 2

"Orochimaru?" Kisame said looking up at the two connected Towers from the outside. "Should have known, why else would the kid be here." They'd finally tracked Konohamaru down after some…interrogation, that involved bullets, and it lead the two to Orochimaru's front door so to speak. "So which building do we take?"

"The one on the left." Itachi told him confidently.

Of course Kisame couldn't see the reason he picked one over the other. "Why that one?"

"Or Information suggest that Konohamaru was travailing by car before he was intercepted by Orochimaru. The Left tower is the only one that has an underground parking garage or a Helipad." Itachi explained. Kisame only shrugged and walked forward to the front doors of the left tower. Glass doors with a shutter closed on the other side blocking any attempt of anyone to see or get inside.

"Tch, like this is really going to stop me." Kisame, now having his holster over his shirt, drew one of the Magnums, the on left side with a brown handle. Holding it outward at point blank range to the door, he fired one shot and the bullet almost instantly shattered the glass and went easily through the steel shutter on the other side. Kisame knelt down and reached past the broken door to the bottom of the shutter, firing one shot into the center where the lock resided. From there Kisame could easily lift it up to reveal the lobby.

Both of them stepped inside, A large room with chairs against both walls, a large circular desk in the center. Behind it was a hallway on the left wall, two elevators and a door leading to a stairway in-between them. A Guard was sitting at the desk, he reached down and pressed a button before attempting to draw his gun. He couldn't get his hand on the handle before Kisame shot him in the head. "Too slow."

Itachi jumped over the desk, landing behind it next to the chair where the dead guard's body lay. A few things were back here, a box of 9mm ammunition, personal items and a layout of a map above a calendar. Itachi took the map and climbed over the desk again, looking over it quickly the handing it over to Kisame. "That button just alerted the security office on the third floor."

"They're probably waiting for us to get on the elevator so they can stall it and trap us there." Kisame said, standing in front of the door to the stairway. "By now they're waiting for us on the steps too. Ready Itachi?"

Itachi only glanced at him, pulling his Custom M4A1 assault riffle from the strap on his back. Itachi pressed his body against the wall, peering over in to the glass window to make sure no one was waiting for him on the other side, then abruptly turned and kicked open the door.

! - ! - !

"I have to admit, you're a tough kid." Orochimaru said with a hint of something between amusement and sarcasm in his voice. He looked down at Konohamaru, laying on the ground curled into a ball with his body shivering, though not from coldness. His eyes where wide and his mouth was open slightly. "I'm sure you can take one more injection."

"NO!" Konohamaru shouted, pleaded, begged. A violent shudder tore through his body at Orochimaru's words, he just wished it would end already…"Please…don't"

"Then you'll tell me?" Orochimaru inquired with some sense of victory in his voice.

"…No." Konohamaru clinched his eyes tightly, he had to force the word out because he knew what it would bring.

"Alright then, this drug apparently isn't work so I'll just have to stop using it." Orochimaru said with fake defeat, Konohamaru peeked one eye open and looked up at him curiously. It seemed true, the man was putting the needle and the vile back down on the tray sitting on a table in a slightly illuminated room. "We'll move on to something different."

Orochimaru walked out of sight in the shadows and flipped a switch, to Konohamaru's relief it turned on the lights. "My sources tell me that you hold a certain anxiety towards Blood." Orochimaru reached down and picked the boy up by his neck, holding him outward to make sure Konohamaru wouldn't kick him.

Konohamaru gasped for air, clinching Orochimaru's arm an a futile attempt to pull him off. He could only squirm and try to breath while the man carried him across the room, the last thing he needed was to be deprived of air again after the paralyzing drugs. "You should feel special, I built this just for you ." Orochimaru looked on to the strained expression on the boy's face and knew this would be the breaking point.

Orochimaru tossed Konohamaru against the wall next to what appeared to be a large box. He didn't get a good first look, he was too busy bracing himself for impact but he did a poor job since he was more concerned about filling his lungs with air only to have it knocked out again. Orochimaru lifted the lid on a long black container that came up to Orochimaru's waist.

He pressed a button, making the black tent of the container become clear like glass, showing what was inside. There was a thick, red liquid that make Konohamaru freeze at the sight while still panting heavily 'Blood….'

"Your remind me so much of your parents when you make that look." Orochimaru said, looking down at the boy with his chin cuffed in his hand thoughtfully "That's the look they made right before I shot them." Orochimaru was telling the truth, but he was only telling Konohamaru this to farther torture him mentally. And also as a segway to his next form of mental torture he would inflict.

Konohamaru glared up at him again, Orochimaru's been making his life miserable since he was born. He never felt anything like the hate he felt for this person, it was overwhelming, engulfing. Something that seemed to be consuming his soul, and it scared him. It was a pain that followed him everyday, at night it would stalk him like the shadows on the wall and enter his dreams, changing them to nightmares. It was terrifying to him to think he could even feel this way, but he wouldn't let it control him…easier said then done.

Orochimaru grabbed him by his neck again and lifted him into the air, holding his body over the pool of blood…but that wasn't all that lay inside of the container. "I sure your mad at me for that…but I can reunite you with them right now." He looked on as Konohamaru's eyes grew wide again and his struggling increased. "Don't worry, I'm not talking about killing you."

Orochimaru let go of him, dropping him into the blood with a loud yelp from the boy. Konohamaru tried to jump back out but Orochimaru pushed his head under with his hand, he could feel the boy squirming, shaking, fighting to get out . But it was no use, Orochimaru had him too tightly.

Konohamaru could feel some other things drifting around in the liquid, pieces of something soft but firm… and hard surrounded him. But he really didn't care, he was surrounded in _this_, surrounded by the death of who knows how many people.

Finally after a minute Orochimaru let him up. "Stop it! Let me out of here!"

Konohamaru flailed wildly, half wanting to get as much of the blood off of him as he could and half just wanting to get as far away as he could. But some time in the course of this, something had gather in Konohamaru's hair when he was under and it fell down around his neck, making him freeze again. "No…No, No, No….." Konohamaru pulled up in front of his face and looked at it carefully, it was his father's dogtag.

'Hotagashi Reedamaru'

"I told you I'd reunite you with your parents." Orochimaru said with a small laugh, watching Konohamaru's face turn pale when he realized that these were his parent's blood and body part's chopped up in place in this container. "Ready to tell me?"

Konohamaru didn't respond, he couldn't find the strength to say anything at that moment even if he wanted to. His body started to shake causing ripples in the liquid, tears fell from his eyes causing the blood to splash slightly. He felt violently sick at that movement and that normal anxiousness turned to a pure fear like state though he wasn't scared. Orochimaru could only shrug uncaringly "If you have to vomit do it now."

Konohamaru yelled at the top of his lungs, louder then he ever imaged he could go. His throat instantly hurt from pushing his voice past it's limits, but his mouth closed on it's own when Orochimaru shoved him under again. The struggling was much more violent this time, Orochimaru had to use two hands to hold him down.

! - ! - !

"Konohamaru!" Naruto shouted in surprise, he knew he heard the distinctive cry of Konohamaru, it was unmistakable. He was still handcuffed behind his back with Kidomaru standing over him, it didn't matter anymore, he had to do something now. Naruto started shifting around in the handcuffs, using the easy way out of two escape options and slipping his hands through.

"Fuck off!" Naruto shouted, jumping to his feet and sending a sharp kick to Kidomaru's shins. While he was falling, Naruto ran over to the one armed Guard still remain and grabbed the Ak7 assault riffle, only it was still strapped to his neck. Naruto pulled it back, making the unexpecting man lean forward only to get a sharp kick to the crouch that made him hunch over enough for Naruto to pull the gun of his neck and run for the door.

But the time he got to the hallway Kidomaru was directly behind him about to grab him. Naruto dived forward, rolling in the air and landing on his back just in front of Kidomaru. He immediately pulled the trigger, the gun in turn roared to life and sent a barrage of bullets into Kidomaru's stomach and chest.

Naruto stopped firing and backed up as the man fell to the ground and the other guard ran out of the room. Only Naruto was expecting him and pulled the trigger once quickly, firing one shot into the side of his head. He hadn't gone through military school for nothing, he knew how to aim and fire a gun.

"Where the hell am I?" Naruto said to himself, looking around the empty hallway. The wall opposite the door was made mostly of long glass windows allowing one to see outside clearly. The only thing he could tell was that he was near the top of the building, about 4 floors from it. This was the only room in this hall, the only other thing here was a door leading out of the corridor.

"Konohamaru's voice came from above…I have to get up there."

Naruto heard a sound outside, curiosity drove him to look out of the window again toward the source. On this side of the building a helicopter was heading towards them from the sky…"What's going on?"

! - ! - !

"Was that sound what I thought that was?" Kisame said stopping just outside of the security office door after leveling a trail of dead bodies behind him. "Was that Konohamaru?"

Itachi looked towards the air vent above them, his scream was carried down through the shaft which seemed to be directly connected to the room Konohamaru was being held in. He immediately pointed that fact out to Kisame. "We need to figure out where this leads."

"Alright then." Kisame pointed one of his Magnums at the lock on the door, easily shooting it apart and kicking the door open. Two men were waiting for them with handguns pointed at the door, they open fire as soon as the door opened. But they were surprised to find that no one was on the other side.

They didn't have time to contemplate it through, machine gun rounds flew threw the walls, the first to hitting random places on there torso's but the rest of them hit in the head and heart region. Itachi was the first to enter the door, walking over to a control panel with a screen for each camera in the building, except that there was no cameras on the top floor

Along with it was more buttons, switches, and 3 phones. More importantly a separate screen with a complete 3D layout of the building, everything from the rooms to the ventilation systems. Everything was wired to the alarm system so everything was mapped out.

Itachi sat down at the panel, and after giving it a once over look he was able to figure it out completely. "That ventilation shaft leads to many different rooms on every floor, but only one room on the top level."

"And I assume that's where Orochimaru is." Kisame said, glancing around at the cameras on the screen, not spotting anything in particular worth interest. Everyone on the first 3 levels were dead anyway, Kisame shrugged and looked at the controls underneath. It didn't take him long to find the one he was looking for and use it to reactivate the elevators.

While Itachi figured out a way to get there, Kisame dropped the empty clip out of his silver Magnum with the black handle. He customized it to take ammunition clips through the handle like a regular handgun, used to load his customized ammunition, as well as normal bullets the normal way.

He pulled a clip from his waistband under his shirt, some of his customized ammunition he created. Then he did the same for his other gun with the brown handle. One of them were .44 Freezing rounds, thin aluminum shell surrounding a small capsule of Liquid nitrogen. The bullet heats up when it's fired, Kisame uses that heat to melt the casing around the bullet launch the liquid nitrogen capsule into the target.

The other one was his regular incinerating rounds, they were created using the same concept of the freezing rounds, that heat from the bullet's discharge heats up a highly flammable liquid inside. The casing melts and launches a capsule that already on fire before it leaves the gun's barrel. All of his custom ammunition used that concept to unleash it's contents on to the user, including a clip of Poison rounds he was saving just incase he ran out of any of the other two types he brought.

"The bastard did pretty well for himself since he dropped out. " Kisame smirked evilly. "I can't wait to see him again, payback is so really going to be a bitch."

Itachi glanced back at him, as much as Kisame acted like he didn't want to be bothered with Konohamaru, he was highly protective and as it appeared now, very vindictive over him. Itachi may have been stronger and more powerful, but Orochimaru's main problem was defiantly going to be Kisame. "There's no cameras on that level, I'm not sure where Konohamaru is exactly."

"All I know is that if we don't find him, I'm aiming for Orochimaru's balls first."

! - ! - !

Ebisu, strapped a knife to his left leg under his pants and out of sight, clinching his STI Eagle 9mm in his hand tightly. 4 other men of his usual team were in the helicopter with him as the pilot approached Orochimaru's Towers, all of them getting ready to encounter hostile enemies.

"What should I do?" The pilot asked.

Ebisu hadn't realized they where here already, and they'd be the only ones coming. Ebisu had a hell of a time trying to get another Helicopter being this far way from the Leaf country. And they were the only ones coming because they couldn't get a call to Konoha warning that Konohamaru had been captured. A jamming signal was being sent out from the Sound country (Get it?), and from where they're first Helicopter went down they had already been too close so they where effected by it.

"Drop us off on the Helipad and then circle around." Ebisu directed, he couldn't help but think of just how much hell it was to get this Helicopter, they had to steal it from the on coming Sound forces. Not an easy task! And he would have got a fighter plane if he didn't need to carry his team with him. They couldn't turn back to Konoha, they would never get past the forces surrounding the city, They'd be killed before they got close.

They couldn't go back so that that meant they were infiltrating this base with little weapons or equipment. That meant only a Handgun for Ebisu, but it didn't matter, he had to find Konohamaru. "Every one get ready to move, we'll have to go fast when we land to get past anyone on the roof. " Ebisu said. "Be conservative and be careful, remember our main goal is to get Konohamaru and get out of there, not fight the security team. Use stealth, and if possible avoid gunfights."

"What about the other two that were with Konohamaru?" One of the men asked.

"If you see them, bring them along. But remember our main objective is Konohamaru."


	6. Chapter 6: Dangerous minds part 3

Chapter 6: Dangerous minds part 3

Konohamaru fought as hard as he could under the blood, he grabbed Both of Orochimaru's arms with his hands. Planting his feet at the bottom of the tank, he pushed up, trying to lift his head out of the liquid. Beside the fact he was literally going crazy under there, he was ready to pass out from lack of air.

Finally Orochimaru let go of him, too suddenly though, instead of just coming to the surface regularly Konohamaru jump out with all his strength. He grabbed on to Orochimaru by the waist, but immediately lifted his hands to the man's neck. Konohamaru lost control of himself for that moment, moving so frantically and quickly that Orochimaru didn't realize what happening until a blood soaked Konohamaru was attempting to strangle him.

'Fast little' Orochimaru grabbed Konohamaru by the head and pulled him out. He was about to drop him back in to the tank but he flinched when the cage to the ventilation shaft next to the tank flew past his head.

"What's wrong Gai-sensei?" Lee asked.

Gai had to glance back to see which one asked, there was no defiant way to tell the two Lee's apart unless looking at them. This time it seemed it was the Lee from the past. Shikamaru even had problems telling the two apart though he didn't seem to want to, there was some solace in the fact there was two Lee's now.

"Something's not right..." Gai looked around the darkening skies of Konoha, more storm clouds had spanned over the city from the east. They were thick enough to rival the last Chakra infused storm that hit Konoha, in a way it was the same storm because this one and the ones that follow in the next few weeks were directly caused by it. Luckily meteorology technology was advanced enough to tell them that the storm came in waves, it was going to get much worse bit they could prepare.

But that wasn't it, though he could barely see anything with the clouds already covering the sun he still looked around for the change. The 3 of them were out side where the Garage used to be, attempting to salvage what they could on Gai's day off... He lifted his hand to his chin thoughtfully "It's my day off..."

"Yes? What dose that have to do with anything?" Shikamaru asked, he was laying peacefully on the grass taking his _break_.

"It's my day off...it's never this quiet on my day off." Gai's gaze slowly drifted up towards the sky while he thought.

Shikamaru and Past Lee looked over at Future Lee, who only shrugged in confusion. "It's not quiet, there's a storm right over us." He pointed out, the howl of the wind was starting to become almost deafening along with the distant thunder rolling over them.

Something seemed to click at the moment, Gai immediately realized what was off about this moments. "Your right Lee the storm is almost directly over us." Gai reached behind him and pulled a radio off his waist band, it was green with a few different buttons knobs along with a retractable antenna. It's most defining future was the round green screen showing radar, it could be set to detect anything from motion to missiles.

It wasn't detecting anything right now.

"So why don't I hear my radio." Gai flipped around with the switches and knobs attempting to get a signal.

"The reception's probably bad because of the storm." Future Lee said with a shrug, he didn't see what Gai was getting so worked up about.

"That's just it." Gai shook the radio a little and extended the antennae. "If reception is blocked because of a natural force it should play the emergency broadcasting system as a warning. But it's not working anymore...It's charged, it was working when a looked at it 20 minutes ago."

"That is kind of strange. Let me see." Future Lee was handed the radio while Gai reached for his Cell phone.

"If mine isn't working then maybe I can get information from Kakashi's." Gai hit the eight button on his speed dial and hoped it worked. "Strange, my phone is still getting reception."

"Hello." Kakashi's voice rang through the receiver, he seemed to be in a good mood.

"Kakashi? It's Gai, is your radio working?" That radio was standard issue for Bomb Squad and Leaf Special Forces members, it was weather proofed and usually carried a powerful signal.

"...No."

"This can't be a coincidence, mine isn't working either. It's completely dead."

"Hmm..." The radio's transmissions and radars all came from one central location that relayed the data. The only function that worked independently was the motion detector and it wasn't of much help now though even that wasn't working. Kakashi could be heard working with his own radio on the other side. "I'll see what I can do." Kakashi hung up.

"This is strange..."Gai seemed pretty adamant about this issue "I have a really bad feeling about this."

"Are you sure, this could be nothing." Shikamaru reassured.

"Call it an intuition." Gai drew his keys out of his pockets and walked toward his new car which was intentionally similar to his old one.

"You might be right Gai-sensei." Both Lee's said at the same time, both of them following.

Shikamaru sighed, slowly pulling himself on to his feet. 'This is so bothersome.'

Gai might just have been on to something.

Kakashi tossed his radio into the backseat of his car, it was useless now, he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it before. As a Member of the Bomb squad he couldn't turn the radio off, anything could come up at any time. That much had already been proven. So he should have realized something was wrong when he didn't hear the EBS or at lest the annoying dead pan tone that played when no other device that could give or receive transmissions was in range.

He should have heard something, but it turns out it wasn't even functioning. That was not a coincidence, a person with as much skill as Kakashi knew that.

He hit his first button on speed dial. "Iruka, where are you?"

Iruka could tell by the tone in his voice he wasn't in his usual playful mood "My base, why?"

"Is your radar and radio working?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka looked up toward his blue jet "I'll check but why wouldn't it be?" Iruka didn't wait for the answer, he climbed up the ladder into the open cockpit he was preparing to get into anyway. Before Kakashi called he was about to move the plane before the storm hit.

Iruka went through the usual motions of start up, sequencing each switch and button with the ease of many years of training. Though this time the usual didn't happen as it usually did, he didn't hear the cracking of the radio starting or the initial beep of the radar coming on line. Every radar signed into a centralized node at Konoha's National Defense and Armed Forces Authority Center at start up. That way it was easier to control, modify or jam signals to specific parameters.

"Strange, it's not working." Iruka said, trying to initialize their start up again.

"None of them seemed to be working." Kakashi said in a contemplatory voice.

Iruka looked around, all of the other pilots had move they're plane's off the lot before the storm hit. He was the last person there. "I'm close to the NDAFA, I'll go check it out." Iruka started the engine and decided to fly with out radio and radar support, it wasn't like either of them helped him navigate around the city which he already knew by heart.

"Kakashi, did you find anything else out?" Gai asked. His destination wasn't too clear, he wasn't sure if he needed to go to one place or another yet.

"Iruka went to check it out, I'm going to follow him." Since Kakashi was driving he'd be about 20 minutes or so later then Iruka who was travailing by air.

"Alright, tell me when you've got something." Gai said before hanging up and putting the phone safely back into his pocket.

"So where are we going anyway?" Past Lee asked.

"I have to check something out at KPD, see if they're equipment is working properly." Gai made a sharp turn to the left at the next intersection, he was quite impatient.

"If your going to the police department I'll meet you there." Future Lee said "I want to check something first." He was vague on the details but it didn't matter, Gai stopped and let him out anyway.

"Alright, I'll wait around for you." Gai promised before heading off again.

Iruka landed in front of a hanger sitting outside the 5 story building, there were rows and rows of them, not all of them holding aircrafts and not all of them could be seen. Some of them were underground, they could be indicated by a large red line where the gates would open. Iruka landed at the closest one to the back door and climbed out. "I'm sure they're running a diagnostic right now."

He didn't think much of it when he climb the stairway to the double doors, he also expected it to be unlocked since it was only 10:47 in the morning. In fact the whole building was on fire emergency lock down, the fire shutters were down. Iruka pulled out his Cell phone and called Kakashi back.

"Kakashi, something is off. The fire shutters are down and locked." Iruka said.

"Check it out." Kakashi encourage.

Iruka nodded and reached under his shirt where his Gun was holster. Since he was air force and his jet was his main weapon, he only got a Hand-gun for emergency situations but it would do. Iruka pressed the barrel against the glass about where the fire shudder lock was and fired one shot. The glass shattered into countless shards and the fire shutter rolled up and opened the back corridor.

The sprinklers where on though there was no fire and the alarm wasn't going off. More importantly a security guard was laying dead against the wall . Iruka lifted his phone as he ran over to the man "Kakashi! A found a dead sentry at the back door, the fire shutters were down and the sprinklers are going off but the alarm isn't. It's probably why the Fire department or any emergency workers aren't here yet." 'This doesn't make sense, why would the shutters be down and locked but the alarm doesn't go off, and why is this man dead?'

"Alright, I',"

Iruka pulled the phone away from his ear and looked over it, it seemed the water got to it. "Damn." He tossed it aside and looked back towards the man, he couldn't do anything for him yet except find who did this. Iruka took the spare clip off the man's waist and ran toward the end of the hallway. He jumped and kicked the door open before pressing himself against the wall and peeking out from behind the corner cautiously.

He found nothing but a large room full of cubicles, apparently one of the many offices that sat just behind the front door lobby. Iruka ran over to the water soaked phone in the cubicle right ahead of him, picking it up quickly to call for help "Line's dead." And so was the man who this office belonged too, covered in thick blood from a head shot that had been spread out into a large pool because of the sprinklers . He knew that this had to be a team effort of 20 or more very skilled men, no less would be able to clear out a 5 story building without letting one person escape or call for help. Cell phones weren't allowed here, they would have helped these people.

Iruka looked up in almost a flinch like motion when the lights flickered, the long florescent bulbs flashed 2 times and went out completely. Leavening Iruka in complete darkness except for the emergency lights that kicked in covering everything in red light. "Great...I'm in for it now." Iruka clinched his gun as he walked quietly through the halls toward the doorway on the opposite side of the room. It was hard to see smaller objects with only the red glow of the backup lights to illuminate his path.

_Bang! Bang! Iruka immediately lifted his gun towards the doorway near the source of the sound, speeding up his pace as he ran into the next room. He was in the center of the building, this area only served as a segway to other areas of the faculty. There were 5 different hallways all leading in different directions and an overly large pillar in the center of the room where two elevators and a stairwell were stationed._

In front of the door leading to the stairway were two people, a man in a suit with a handgun who apparently worked here by the ID card on his chest and another man in a suit that held a high caliber assault riffle which had fired it's last round. They both ended up killing each other, shooting in vital areas. "What's going on around here..."

Iruka heard another louder sound from below, the sound of the left elevator ascending past this level. "Someone else must be downstairs..." It would be wiser to check down stairs first since there was no way out on any other floors beside the first and basement. He knelt down by the man with the _empty_ handgun and took the ID card off his chest, now that he had the right credentials he was able to swipe the card through the reader and watched the right elevator open.

"What!" Gai nearly shouted once he heard what was happening. "You can't be serous..."

"I'm on my way now." Kakashi said on the other end of the line.

"I'm out side of the KPD, I'll get him some help." Gai said, stopping outside the precinct though he was parked so hurriedly that he was blocking half of the traffic. Gai did have a tendency to rush things on rare occasions when there was an emergency. "You know what this means don't you?"

"Who ever attacked NDAFA took every system radar in Konoha down to get us off guard." Kakashi's voice was in that rare dead serous monotone, something was happening and they might just be the only ones who figured it out yet.

"We're going to have to hurry, I have a bad feeling about this one." Gai said before hanging up and jumping out of his car followed by a curious Shikamaru and Lee.

"What's going on?" Lee asked, pushing through the department doors behind Gai.

"From what I've gathered, the city may be under attack." Shikamaru looked around the marble floors and walls of the KPD while being sure to keep up with Gai. Lee seemed to have no problem doing so but Shikamaru wasn't nearly that fast. He barely had enough time to take in what he saw because it seemed like the moment they steeped into the door they were heading up a the spiraling main staircase.

Gai quickly made his way to the third floor with out so much as a pant, he had no problem walking into the door that lay at the top where the Chief of Police resided.

"Chief Irons (Anyone catch where I got the name?), we have a serous problem!" Gai shouted almost dramatically, leaning over the man's desk until he was a few inches from his face " Konoha's NDAFA is under attack."

When he heard that he ignored how close Gai was for the moment and focused on what he said. "What! When! How!"

"I don't know just get over there now!" Gai shouted.

Irons flinch and grabbed the black radio sitting on his desk, usually it was always in contact with dispatch, now it was just silent. "What the hell!"

"Who ever attacked is jamming radio and radar."

"Damnit! How do you expect me to get any men on the scene if dispatch can't get in contact with them." The Chief pounded his fist into the desk in frustration, From Police, to the Fire department, To EMS, and the armed forces. The main means of initial communication was through radio, there where other but they'd never really used them.

"Figure out something." Gai pulled back and began walking out of the room.

"Where are you going?" The Chief asked, he needed all the help he could get.

"To make a phone call."

Iruka pressed his body against the elevator wall as it traveled downward, he was sure to keep his back just off of the panel so he didn't accidentally hit any buttons and end up on the roof. It was hard to hide his presence since the elevator wasn't exactly silent and was hard to miss.

Iruka took a deep breath when he felt the elevator slow to a stop and a small ring sounded to farther announce he presence. The doors rolled open, followed by prompt gunshots that flew right past him. From the rate of fire he could tell it was a semi-automatic weapon, something he could handle. He could also see a laser sight, not that it made much difference.

The shots stopped once the doors were all the way open and it appeared no one was inside. Still Iruka waited, he knew the person on the other side was doing the same. Maybe if he waited long enough the person would dismiss it as nothing and leave, but like in everything else today he didn't have that kind of luck. The elevator doors were closing.

'Now or never.' Iruka pivoted on his left foot so that he was facing the door and dived through. He flawlessly rolled on the ground outside the elevator, coming to a stop on one knee and held his gun outward. Luckily he had landed behind a desk so the man couldn't fire on him just yet, Iruka turned around, on one knee he held the gun over the desk and resisted the urge to gasp "Ka-Kabuto!"

Of course he recognized Kabuto, he worked directly with the president. Kabuto on the other hand had no idea who Iruka was and had no problem firing a few shots at him. Iruka dropped back down behind the cover of the desk "I don't understand, your the one who did this!"

Kabuto didn't answer, he only moved slowly towards Iruka with the obvious intent to kill. Iruka rolled from behind his nearest cover landing on one knee and with gun outward toward Kabuto, he fired at his hand but Kabuto stepped to the side and fired a shot to his head. His only saving grace was that he faltered a little and the bullet was only able to grace his cheek. Iruka winced, letting out a sigh of relief from the closeness, it was obvious that he wouldn't be able to take on Kabuto in the open, his shooting skills weren't good enough for that.

Iruka climbed to his feet and strifed backwards behind the desk, a few more shots just missed him as he did so. "Why would you do something like this?"

"Come on, it's not that hard to figure out." Kabuto jumped on to the desk, veering over the edge with his gun pointing down towards Iruka, but when he got there Iruka had already aimed his gun towards him. Both of them fired, Kabuto striking Iruka in the heart while Iruka fired two shots into Kabuto's torso in random places.

Kabuto fell back off the desk, landing flat on his back. He lifted his hands to his suit coat and pulled it off of himself reveling the faint image of a bullet-proof vest under his shirt. Iruka invertedly rolled to the side, climbing up on to his hands and knees. He wore his vest over his cloths were they were visible, he still couldn't help but wince at the sting of being shot from near point blank range, it would surely leave a mark.

Climbing to his feet, Iruka looked past the desk over the velvet tented room only illuminated by the glow red emergency light. What made it even harder to see and hear was the constant rain fall of the sprinkler system, this was really going to be a challenge. "Your the president's assistant! Why would you kill all these people for no reason!" Iruka shouted, he of course knew that a Kabuto came prepaid for this and shots to the mid-area wouldn't work.

"Hmph! President's assistant, Why would I want such a meaningless job. I don't even want to be here!" Kabuto flipped on to his feet, charging at the desk where Iruka was on his knees. He jumped over the wooden furnishing, drawing his leg back and sending strong kick to Iruka's face. The man felt on his back, sliding backwards on the slick ground while drawing up his gun. Iruka opened fire, but was only able to release one bullet before Kabuto steeped to the side to avoid it and ended up in a shady area out of Iruka's view.

"What dose that mean?" Iruka fired into the shadow, the flash of the gun gave him a snapshot of Kabuto's position but by the time he fired the second one the man had moved.

"Exactly what I said, I hate this place." Kabuto's voice indicated that he was still in the same shadow, but Iruka still couldn't seem to hit him, he was way to quick.

Iruka saw a quick flash directly to the left of him where Kabuto somehow managed to get with out him noticing. Reflexes forced him to roll to the left instead of a regular flinch, and he barely made it, the bullet smashed into the ground inches from his head.

He rolled behind the central pillar where the elevator resided, stumbbing on to his feet with a little trouble on the water before pressing his back against the wall. He was starting to get cold, Sprinkles mixed with Central AC was enough to make him feel like he was freezing. One of many things on his mind as he looked around the room basked in red light. "I saw one of your men upstairs, there's no way you could organize all of this by yourself." Iruka called out, dropping the empty clip from his Handgun and loading his remaining one followed by a swift pull of the slide.

"Who are you working for?" Iruka stepped from behind the pillar with gun outward, just in time to see Kabuto backing up towards a pair of steel double that led to a lift that traveled to the base's underground hanger and storage. It was already on this floor and all Kabuto had to do was press the button, Iruka wouldn't let that happen.

He pulled the trigger, firing of a few rounds toward Kabuto while a few of them hit the panel with the lift's button. It rolled open just waiting to be boarded, yet Kabuto had no choice but to move out of the way to avoid being it. Iruka may not have been as skilled as him but he still had good aim, if he ran for the lift now he would be hit. "Your not very bright are you?" Kabuto said, diving to the left as a bullet just passed over his leg close enough to rip a small amount of fabric from his pants.

'He just called me stupid...' Iruka fired a few more shots at him as he landed behind a large control panel with a proportionately large screen. Of course all of them were blocked by the machine while Kabuto waited for his time.

"Orochimaru of course, why else would I come all the way from the Sound country?" Kabuto said, peering past the machine and retuning fire to Iruka.

Iruka was forced to press his back against the wall while the bullet's came inexplicitly close, the first two actually scorched his cheek slightly but was quickly eased by the falling water, "Damnit! I should have known, no wonder you jammed the radio and radar waves And the fire lock down was started but the alarm wasn't going off." Iruka crouched down slightly as he turned the pillar's corner to find Kabuto of course inching his way towards the door again. Iruka opened fire while Kabuto tried too, he found out a little too late that he was out of ammunition and was shot in the right shoulder. He was force to reclaim his cover behind the panel.

"What are you planning?" Iruka shouted, firing another round when he saw Kabuto glace around from behind his cover. Though he missed Iruka's shots were doing damage, that much became apparent when a strange sound came from the panel. His Bullets were damaging internal components and water from the sprinklers had begun seeping in. It started to sizzle and crackle, volts of electricity spanned over the controls like flashes of lighting.

Smoke billowed out of the machine, more strange sounds radiating. "Damnit, No!" Kabuto glanced back over the control panel that had been set to jam the radio and radar. 'It's too early!"

Iruka heard a small blip as his radar came back on line, he pulled it from his waist band and looked at the circular screen. "Oh my god..." Right now it was set to monitor high altitudes which was usually his default setting because he was a pilot, it had been a gift from Kakashi and made a good back up radar just in case. But right now it was showing him something terrifying, moving in from the east were hordes of enemy aircrafts 'It was a surprise attack...'

Iruka put it back and veered around the corner to see Kabuto heading for the lift again through the red tented smoke. Iruka ran after him weaving through the desks and consoles after the other man who was already inside with the door closing. It didn't seem like he'd make it, but Iruka did have one advantage over Kabuto and that was speed. Iruka dashed for it, increasing his pace before he dived forward, his body sliding through the doors and landing on the other side with Kabuto.

"Damn you..." Kabuto growled in frustration, kicking the gun out of Iruka's hands before he could get up. It didn't go far though, the space was the length and width of two standard elevators leaving little room to fight in.

Iruka reached back and tried to take hold of the gun just out of his reach, only to unexpectedly curl involuntarily by a swift stomp to his stomach. Kabuto knelt to the ground and attempted to pick it up but Iruka grabbed him by the leg and pulled him back, Kabuto fell and slide down so far he and Kabuto where face to face. Both of them were reaching for the gun with one hand and holding the other back with the other.

"There was a sound spy right under the president after all...No wonder the sound was doing so well." Iruka said in a strained voice.

"We would have done just as good if I wasn't here." Kabuto said fiercely, feeling as if his pride and loyalty were being tested.

"No you wouldn't have, everyone knows the Sound is weak." Iruka pushed a little harder, wondering when the elevator would stop, hopefully soon, Kabuto was starting to over power him.

"If the Leaf is anything like you then this attack should wipe Konoha off the map." Kabuto smirked. Iruka grunted and sent a knee into Kabuto's stomach. Kabuto blocked it with his knee then lifted his foot and kicked Iruka in the stomach with a blow strong enough to make him hunch upwards, but in doing so he gave him that last inch need to grab the gun just as the elevator stop and the doors rolled open.

Iruka lifted the gun towards Kabuto but got a swift kick to the side of his head before he could fire, that gave him just enough time step out of the small space and push the button to send Iruka back up to the last floor. Iruka took the blow and rolled out of the door before it could close completely.

"Who are you!" Kabuto said, frustration evident in his tone.

"Umino Iruka." Iruka used the wall to climb to his feet, reaching back for his radio/radar...He tried the radio but the waves were still being jammed, they would be for some time with the panel upstairs broken 'No...The radio wave's are still being blocked and the controls fried...Kakashi, hurry!'


	7. Chapter 7: Dangerous minds part 4

Chapter 7: Dangerous minds part 4

Iruka finally noticed the roar of an engine in the air, this was an underground hanger. He could see the thin line in the ceiling where it opened to the run way outside, the gate was unlocked in preparation. There was even a fighter plane waiting for Kabuto that was already started and everything was initialized for flight, this was suppose to be a quick escape. No wonder he was so mad. "A low class solider was able to do all of this." Kabuto shook his head "Luck comes to the weak."

Iruka replied by lifting the gun, but in one swift motion Kabuto was in front of him and grabbed Iruka's wrist with his hand. In fluid movements Kabuto pulled Iruka's arm toward him and sent his elbow into his face, then while Iruka's head was falling back Kabuto sent a sharp chop into his arm and force him to drop the gun. Finally Kabuto released him and drove his foot into his stomach making him stumble back.

Iruka placed his foot back to stop himself then charged at Kabuto while he was going for the gun. Iruka drove his shoulder into Kabuto's stomach and wrapped his arms around his waist, both of them faltered backwards away from the weapon. Iruka placed his head into Kabuto stomach and rammed him into the roaring jet and knocked the wind out of him.

Kabuto gasped, grabbing on to Iruka's head and driving his knee into the man's chest. Iruka tried to pull back but Kabuto and his superior strength pulled him in, thrusting another knee into Iruka's torso.

"Aaarrggg!" Iruka fought to get out of Kabuto's hold, thrusting his shoulder forward into Kabuto stomach twice and forced him to let go. But Kabuto was quick enough to drive one last knee into Iruka's face and sent him flying backwards, falling painfully to the ground.

"Your too weak." Kabuto walked forward, sending a strong kick into Iruka's stomach, the impact carried enough force to send him sliding backwards. "You should have run when you had the chance."

:I...wont run." Iruka placed his hands behind him to stop sliding, the pulled himself on to his feet. "I will not let this happen." Iruka reached back and grabbed the gun that he had landed next to, opening fire on Kabuto.

Kabuto had no choice but to crouch under the Jet's wing and take cover on the opposite side. "It's all ready happening, someone like you can't stop it. You wouldn't know how." Kabuto peaked around toward Iruka, only to be driven back by another shot. He had to get that gun away from him, or at lest find away to return fire. Sure he could beat him one on one and probably in most other things but Iruka wasn't that bad of a shot, he couldn't take him on unarmed when he had a hand gun. Even with a bullet proof vest.

Which his why he came prepared. Kabuto climbed up the Plane, jumping into the cockpit and immediately coming under fire. He had to keep his head down making it imposable to see where he was going and escape as long as Iruka was capacitated. "Oh my the way, we've captured Konohamaru."

Iruka's eyes went wide and his mind took a second to register the severity of what had just been said. It gave Kabuto enough time to reach into the back seat and take the large gun that resided there. It wasn't a regular one, it was sliver and the size of a rocket launcher, a large rectangular weapon with a long trigger and a handle. It was so long that he had to hold half of it under his arm. This was a electromagnetic rail gun and it had a battery pack with enough energy for 30 shots.

"Oh and we've got his two friends, Naruto and Sasuke."

Iruka had to stifle a gasp "What?"

Kabuto took the opportunity to place the barrel of the gun out of the toward Iruka "That's why your weak, you get distracted too easily." Kabuto opened fire, sending an electromagnetic round towards Iruka. It was a jolt of electricity that came like lighting drawn towards the ground. It was much slower then that and being drawn by a black electromagnetic bullet that kept the electricity in a strait line instead of striking the closest thing.

Iruka jumped to the side just barely dodging the bullet but not the lighting, a few stray volts were drawn toward him though he wasn't hit directly, making him scream as the Railgun electrocuted him with it's equivalent of a bullet burn. Only it was much more painful and damaging, he was sure it would leave a burn on his chest.

He fell to the ground, hearing something explode as the Railgun round strike an object. He could feel the heat as flames ignited in the elevator and cut off his way back.

"I don't have time for you right now Umino Iruka." Kabuto shouted, closing the cockpit windshield and started moving the plane toward the lift that carried the aircrafts to the surface instead of taking another shot.

Iruka pulled himself on to his feet and ran after the aircraft, gun in hand. "You can't get rid of me that easily! Were are they?" Iruka honestly had never been so angry and motivated in his life, he was determined to save Naruto, Sasuke and Konohamaru. Kabuto just ignored him, flaring up the engines as the Jet got on to the lift "Tell me!"

He knew he was putting himself in danger of being incinerated but it was his only way up and he couldn't wait for Kabuto to leave first.

Kabuto's sliver fighter plane complete with the leaf insignia started lifting off the ground in a burst of wind that Iruka could hardly stand against, he had to grab on to a railing to keep from falling off. As soon as the lift reached to surface the Jet began to burn fuel and thrust off into the air almost burning Iruka to pieces in the process. Iruka was knocked back by the force, flying a few feet away to the ground.

Only to almost get hit by a car.

"Iruka?" Kakashi jumped out and ran over to him.

"I'm ok." Iruka took Kakashi's hand and stumbled on to the feet. "Come on, Orochimaru has Sasuke, Naruto and Konohamaru. And Kabuto knows were they are."

"What?" Kakashi was somewhat confused at his words.

"Come on!" Iruka grabbed his hand and ran towards the hanger where his plane resided. "Did you check your radar?"

"Yeah I saw it." Kakashi said. "There's an attack coming by sea."

"What?" Iruka was tempted to stop and looked back at him. "There's an attack coming by air. The sound's attacking by water too!"

Kakashi's cell phone rang at that moment.

! - ! - !

"Kakashi it's Gai." Gai was just leaving the Police station with Shikamaru and Lee, getting in the car. "We have big problems! The radar's back on and you won't believe what's coming."

Gai jumped into the car, turning it on as the other to entered. He started talking again before Kakashi could get in a word "There's a whole force coming at us from the east on the ground, may or may not be Sound but most likely is."

"The sound is coming from the water and the air too, They're trying to hit us while we're recovering from the storm and before the next one starts." Kakashi said.

Speak of the devil.

The wind, which had already picked up while they were inside, blew a strong gust that had to be about 45 miles an hour and a heavy ran started in a flash. It didn't go from light to heavy, it started off as a torrent. The second wave of the storm had just arrived and darkened skies seemed to get darker. "The timing couldn't be worse." Lee sighed.

Gai held the Cell Phone outward "Great, the signal's gone."

"Where are we going now?" Shikamaru clinched his seat tightly as the car accelerated, he had forgotten that Gai had wanted be a professional racer before he became apart of the Leaf special forces. He may just have been the best driver in Konoha, which is why he always focused on Ground attacks using vehicles. Anything on wheels he could use effectively.

"My house, I have to get equipped because this battle won't wait." Gai made a sharp turn to the left, he could see water coming out a manhole ahead. The city could barely hold the water from the last storm and now they were about to be hit by a lot more. This time he was sure streets would flood, and basements wouldn't be so safe as shelter.

"Who did you call Gai-sensei?" Lee asked.

"The president."

! - ! - !

"Kisame! Itachi!" Konohamaru shouted, his voice wasn't filled with it's usual excitement like it should have been when being rescued. It was anxious and shaky so un-Konohamaru like it was almost scary.

"What the hell!" Orochimaru pulled the gun from the holster on his side and pointed it toward the closest person which was Kisame, only to find that he had done the same and he was looking a much larger gun in the face. "Why are you here?"

Kisame reached back and pulled Konohamaru's scarf from his back pocket "You took the kid, and I have a problem with that." Kisame sent a sharp kick at Orochimaru who blocked with his free hand and fired the hand gun. Kisame tilted his head to the side and dodged the bullet and sent a sharp punch to Orochimaru's face. Orochimaru stepped to the side and evaded...only to run into Itachi.

"Why are you to worried about the brat?" Orochimaru looked back at Itachi, his face didn't show it but he was nervous. He knew he couldn't beat Itachi let alone Itachi and Kisame at the same time, all of his time in Akatsuki weren't a waste. "I thought you didn't care for Konoha."

There was no use asking why he captured Konohamaru, it wasn't hard to figure out considering who was who. "We're taking him back." Which really meant your a dead man, Orochimaru knew that.

He sent a sharp elbow back at Itachi, which Itachi grabbed and twisted behind his back. Orochimaru turned the gun in his free hand and pressed it against Itachi's stomach, contently firing a shot only to find Itachi had moved and he was no longer being held. Only now Itachi was in front of him sending a sharp kick into his torso.

Orochimaru slid backwards, stumbling into a wall and a safe distance away. "Heh, not bad, But not good enough." Orochimaru pulled a small remote control out of his back pocket.

"What the hell is..." Kisame's eyes widened to considerable proportions when he realized what Orochimaru was about to do and immediately ran over to the tank Konohamaru was still in. He grabbed him roughly by the collar a picked him up while Itachi opened fire with the riffle.

He would have stopped him too, if only he hadn't already used up all his ammunition. Orochimaru smirked and pressed two buttons while Kisame was still trying to get away. And just as he expected the capsule exploded, the force knocking Kisame off his feet and Konohamaru out of his hands.

The left wall was made completely out of windows shattered from the shockwave and a thick black smoke poured out. Even with that Itachi was still able to see Konohamaru's bloody body sliding towards the shattered frames where glass once stood. He ran after him, cursing Orochimaru for covering him in the red liquid, it was only making Konohamaru slide faster. He was forced to dive forward, half of his body landing out side of the 20 story building in just enough time to grab Konohamaru's arm.

"It-Itachi?" Konohamaru looked up, a weak voice coming from him. "What just happened? How did you get here?" It all happened so fast that Konohamaru got confused, besides he wasn't really focusing since he had been surrounded by his parents blood and a chunky substance that he hoped not but knew was his parent's flesh.

Kisame looked toward the window, seeing that Itachi had Konohamaru. He was going after Orochimaru for sure. 'That asshole doesn't make sense, what did he have in this room so important that he had to blow it up because we showed up...' It was just a wondering thought, he was more focused on killing him then figuring him out.

Kisame jumped onto his feet and ran out into the hallway after Orochimaru, only to realize that the gun he'd been carrying had been lost in the blast. Luckily it was laying a few feet ahead... Only Orochimaru was closer. He started to reach for the second gun under his shirt but he knew by the time he got it out Orochimaru would have already shot him. So he ran for his lost gun as he reached for the second while Orochimaru tossed away his empty handgun in frustration and dashed toward Kisame's silver magnum .

"Your dead Orochimaru!" Kisame growled.

"Heh, don't count on it." Orochimaru dived, talking hold of the gun before Kisame could kick it away. He rolled on to his back with the gun outward while Kisame finally retrieved his other magnum, but Orochimaru was quicker. The man fired a shot into Kisame's torso and another into his shoulder before Kisame could fire one shot which landed a few inches from his heart.

'Damnit!' Kisame shouted in his head, firing and missing another shot while Orochimaru rolled out of the way. 'That gun had the poison rounds...' "Bastard." Kisame snorted, missing another shot as the quicker Orochimaru dodged.

"What the hell was that!" Orochimaru shouted, feeling a painful and inhibiting cold where the bullet struck. He was forced to hunch over slight and clinch his chest, he could feel the wound was completely frozen to the point where it was starting to effect his breathing.

"Doesn't matter." Kisame said, firing another round as the pain started to rise in his body. "You wont live long enough to find out." He kept trying to shoot him but he was missing horribly, his vision was getting burry and he had trouble focusing.

Orochimaru looked down at the chrome weapon and quickly figured out that there was something in these bullets also. One more shot and the already weakened Kisame would be down for good. But he found himself quickly dropping the gun and the freezing sensation shot through his wrist.

"I'm not out yet ass hole." Kisame said, an impish smirk coming on to his face.

Orochimaru clinched his arm, knowing he didn't stand a chance being able to use only one hand and the pain was horrible. It got even worse when that same pain shot through his other arm, Kisame was a good shoot when he was mad. 'Damnit what did he do to me...I can't fight them like this...' Orochimaru found it best he retreat for now.

"Watch it Orochimaru..."Kisame said, finding his legs getting weaker "I'm not done with you yet." He finally fell on to his knees and leant against the wall.

Orochimaru wasn't too worried.

"What happened to you?" Itachi emerged from the room with Konohamaru walking behind him.

"He shot me with my own gun." Kisame sighed "Twice."

Itachi didn't see any freeze or burn marks so he knew it had to be the poisonous. Konohamaru walked over to him. "Are you ok?"

Kisame looked over him for a moment, seeing that he was dripping in some one else's blood , and the by way it was smeared in a strange design Kisame could see he had tried frantically to get it off of him. In fact the only reason he stopped is because he didn't want to look weak in front of Kisame and Itachi as if they were oblivious to his anxiety around blood. Though chances were Itachi had seen him and didn't say anything yet. "Are _you_ ok?"

"Yeah...I'm fine." Konohamaru's voice had faltered a bit when he spoke, it wasn't a pleasant sight to see him like this.

"Kid, your shaking." Kisame pointed out. Konohamaru's hands were shaking the most visibly but his whole body was trembling.

Konohamaru's expression cracked uncontrollably from a strait face to one that was about to break down. "I'm...I'm"

"Despite what you might think I'm not stupid." Kisame snorted, using the wall to pick himself up off the ground and holster the gun holding the poison rounds. The chemicals inside worked faster on some people then others, and It worked relatively slowly on Kisame so he had some time. "Your not ok so don't tell me that."

A few tears escaped from his eyes, falling to the tiled floor. He didn't bother trying to cover them up "He...killed my parents...and he dumped me their blood." He said as more tears fell and a few sobs escaped "He did something to me...I couldn't move, I couldn't breath. It was horrible! And then he did this to me!"

That trembling increased substantially, he still tried to hold back knowing this wasn't the time or place to cry. It was hard though, and the fact that he had looked at his hands when Kisame pointed out he was shaking didn't help. He wanted to scream as loud as he could, he wanted to get the blood off with a passion.

"Come on, Let's get out of here." Kisame said morbidly. It wasn't easy seeing Konohamaru in so much pain, he didn't know how to handle these types of situations though he really wished he did. All he knew was Orochimaru was really going to pay for this. "Here." Kisame handed Konohamaru his scarf, and then a small towel he had in his back pocket.

"Thanks..." Konohamaru silently put it back in place, pushing back any other tears that threatened to come while he gratefully wiped off as much of the liquid as he could . "No...I can't go now. Naruto and Sasuke are still here! I have to get them."

"Damnit. I can't wait that long, I have to go an get an antidote, now." Kisame snorted in annoyment. He could barely walk and Itachi would have to go with him. "You gotta to come with us now."

"I can't, I have to get to them." Konohamaru said stubbornly, he wasn't going to leave and it would take too much time to force him.

"If your that determined to stay, I'll let you...If you do one thing." Itachi said, of course he didn't go through the trouble just to have Konohamaru die now. Konohamaru nodded and waited for him to continue "Go to the roof, by the time you reach the elevator it will already be unlocked. Your guardian, Ebusi I think it is, has a Helicopter waiting there."

"Ebusi is here?" Konohamaru looked up questioningly, it was still hard for him to concentrate considering he wanted to practically get out of his skin.

Kisame knelt down next to Konohamaru, getting about an inch from his face. "Can you really do this? This is really dangerous and you're prone to doing stupid stuff."

Konohamaru just looked up at him, usually he would have taken this as an insult and said something but this time he only starred up at him blankly. But his eye were squinted as if he was about to cry. Kisame such up hard one time, "Konohamaru!"

"What?" He really sounded out of it. "I can do it, don't worry about me." He slipped into his confident voice though he really wasn't paying attention to the risks. "Orochimaru isn't going to mess with me, Don't taunt the shark huh." Konohamaru always teased with that line when Kisame messed with him, now it just sounded hollow. Which only made Kisame madder.

What happened to the over-reactive, hyper Konohamaru that always was head-strong and egger to please. He was always fun to ague with and always followed them like a lost puppy that was really easy to train. And some how he able to retain his innocence and humanity during all of that, he became the good side of them. And not once did Konohamaru call Kisame boss, 'What did he do you that kid?'

Itachi pulled Kisame's arm over his shoulder and started to walk him down the hall. "Kid." Kisame called back "Don't mess around here, get your ass up there and remember what I taught you." He said firmly.

"Can I use your gun, you know for protection?" Konohamaru asked, he always wanted to use it after all the times he saw Kisame testing it out. 'What did he mean by remember what I taught you? I'm supposed to just go up to the roof and to the helicopter.'

"No." Kisame called back as he and Itachi head it out of the door at the end of the left side of the hallway. Konohamaru sighed, the way to the helipad was on the right but he could use the elevator to get to other levels to find is friends. There was no way he was leaving with out them.

! - ! - !

"Sasuke and Konohamaru, they must be over there." Naruto said quietly to himself, staring out of a corridor window about 4 floors below the window on the opposite tower that had exploded. "I bet that's Sasuke trying to get out." Naruto smirked, happy at the thought that he was alright 'That bastard, always the center of attention.'

With the riffle he'd gotten when he escaped from Kidomaru he roamed down the halls, clinching the weapon nervously. It was way too quiet around here, he hadn't spotted another person since then. What had actually happened was Itachi and Kisame disposed of most of them, the guards in this building had to go help but the result was the same.

That's why Naruto jumped when a loud sound came over the speaker system. "What the hell is that?" It sound as if someone was playing something backwards at a fast speed and a high pitch. "Must be broken." Naruto shrugged it off and counted walking down the hall cautiously. Just by looking out of the window he could see that the skyway to the next tower was in the next room.

What he didn't know was that sound wasn't a mistake and it meant something. It wasn't relevant to him but a few other people in the towers may have been interested. "I hope you guys are alright..."


	8. Chapter 8: Dangerous minds Finale

Chapter 8: Dangerous Minds Finale

"Kabuto? Is everything going according to plain?" Orochimaru asked over the radio, Kabuto's was set up with an anti-jammed that only worked because he knew how the radio wave jammer in place over Konoha worked. The only other people who knew were dead per the plan.

"Everything should still work out." Kabuto said confidently, traveling over Konoha downtown Konoha toward the East. His plane was sending out a frequency that the other Sound aircrafts recognized so he wouldn't be shot down by the approaching army. "I heard there was some problems back there."

"Nothing I can't handle, just make sure everything is in order with the attack." Orochimaru sounded annoyed as if he didn't want to be bothered with it, there was also a small strain to his voice as if he was in pain.

Kabuto only sighed and shook his head, he could handle this, he was sure no one but Iruka knew and by the time he got the word out Konoha would be a hole in the ground.

"Kabuto!"

Iruka's voice roared over his radio in a furry never seen by anyone. Iruka wasn't one to get too mad about things but Naruto, Sasuke and even Konohamaru were almost like sons to him and he'd do anything to get them back. "Tell me where they are!"

Kabuto looked down at his radar, then looked behind him. Finding a blue jet with the numbers 4477 on the side trailing him with Iruka in the cockpit and Kakashi in the seat behind him looking a bit nervous. "Your a brave one Umino Iruka." Kabuto said "Let's see if that's courage or headstrong stupidity." Kabuto knew he had to get Iruka off of him, he wasn't worried though, Iruka wasn't nearly as skilled as Kabuto.

"I'm not afraid of you. Tell me where they are now!" Iruka shouted, pressing the bottom trigger on his throttle and opening fire with the duel Glatting guns under his wings.

"Iruka?" Kakashi made sure he was strapped in tightly before leaning forward over Iruka's shoulder. He didn't say what he was going to say because he saw that intense look on his face, it was almost freighting to see a person like Iruka be this mad. Quite surreal actual, this wasn't the same shy, nervous, nice person he was use to. With that thought Kakashi found the focus to stop thinking and say what he was about too a moment earlier, but he didn't get a chance because a sharp acceleration and a nose dive sent Kakashi flying back in to his seat.

He was going to hate this.

Kabuto rose up, flying nose first into the air in a skill full balancing maneuver Iruka never could mange to do. "No one person has ever caused this many problems for me, I want to find out just how good you really are." He had to get Iruka off his tail anyway, why not feed his curiosity in the process, a chance like this was few and far between. "The attack is starting, you say that Konoha isn't weak. Now's your chance to prove me wrong."

With a loud crash of thunder and a strike of lighting, the first fighter plane emerged from the thick black clouds. Even louder then the thunder, what sounded like a bomb exploded at the far east corner of corner of the city. And the dock flared into an inferno almost instantaneously. "Kabuto!"

"It's not safe for you. Thing are a lot different then they were in the past." Gai said, Standing in a green bullet proof vest with a machine gun in hand a 4 clips on his hips.

Standing next to his front door with Lee and Shikamaru, he adamantly denied them...well Lee since he was the one to ask permission to come with him. Before anyone could get another word in, a deafening explosion shattered every window in the house and sent flames through all of theones in the front of the house.

"It's not safe here!" Lee shouted, removing his hands from his ears he'd been using to drown out the noise and standing up again after the force knocked him off his feet. Gai pressed his body against the wall and peered out of the window frame.

"My luck is really off tonight." Gai sighed. "Lee, close that door!" He pointed toward the closet door in front of him knowing Lee was the fastest. Lee complied without question, running to the end of the hall and slamming the door shut. From there his eyes looked towards Gai for farther instruction but ended up with a glimpse at what was outside.

"Ahhhh!" Lee pressed his body against the wall as a large rocket flew through the open frame, it passed close enough to him to nearly burn him before it glided through the window at the opposite end of the house. The source was a large tank that had just taken out mostly every other house on the street and who's main goal was to cause the most destruction possible. It's cannon was looking them right in the face. "Gai! What is that thing?"

Gai jumped in front of the window as soon as he saw that red flash from the next round about to launch out of the long tube. He opened fire with the idle machine gun, shooting directly into the barrel and detonating the rocket before it could leave the tank. He dived forward towards to the ground, pushing himself far enough to pull Lee down with him and cover him while the weapon detonated in a spray of flames, fuel and metal scraps.

"Ooohh...I guess your coming with me after all." Gai said, reaching back and pull and scrap of steel of from his back.

"How can we fight against something like that?" Shikamaru asked nervously, yet he still managed to keep his calm and lazy tone as always. He'd been against the wall altogether so he avoided damage "I hear at least 20 more of them outside, I'm not an expert on war in this time period but I'd say this is a full scale attack."

"Don't worry, we have plans for emergency situations like this. A counter attack should be happening...about now." Just as he spoke the noise outside doubled and too him that was a good sign. "Alright, we're going to have to get out of here now and get to my car. On three we go." Gai peered out the window to make sure his car was still their and started counting "1...2...3!" He pulled the door open and ran outside, immediately met by tall flames that covered his front lawn and everything else on the street.

He looked back, afraid Shikamaru and Lee would be unable to get around the inferno. He was pleasantly surprised to find out that they were amazing good jumpers. It was a small leap over the flames, to find that that 3 Sound soldiers using Gai's car for cover against one soldier fro doing the same a few feet away. Lee fell on the central man, landing on the man's shoulders, wrapping his legs around the man's neck and flipping backwards. With a quick motion he sent the man flying in to the flames just as Gai dived through.

Shikamaru pressed his hands together in a quick seal "Shadow mimic no Jutsu!" His shadow shot out and connected with the two men's just as they turned towards the boy. Using it to his advantage, Lee jumped into the air, sending a kick to both of the men, followed by two swift elbows as he landed then a sweep kick that went in a full circle. That was strong enough to knock both of them to the ground and leave them voluble for a while.

"You two are pretty good." Gai jumped into the driver's seat and started the car quickly, he accelerated fast enough to involuntarily throw both boy's head back into the head rest. And just as they finally recover from take off, a loud roaring sound that was easily able to drown out the Car's engine came screeching from above, a fighter plane that was directly above them dropping bombs on any and everything bellow it. "Hold on!"

Gai made a sharp turn to the left just as a rush of flames exploded behind them, he pressed the gas to floor and drew out every bit of acceleration he could out of the machine weaving through the traffic of Konoha citizens, Sound solders and the clashing Leaf army. He glanced up again, then ducked down under the wheel in expectance as the buildings to the left of them combusted with tremendous force, Konoha was officially a war zone.

Thick clouds of gray dust cascaded over them, hiding a rain of bricks and debris in it's wake that was only reviled by the sound of it smashing into to the hood of the car. Gai lifted his head slightly just as the car emerged from the other side of the cloud. "No!" Gai pressed the breaks mildly and turned to the left to avoid an on coming humvee, just narrowly scraping right door as he past by, then shifted gears and accelerated forward with all of the tork the car had.

"Watch it, it's going to be close!" Gai shouted, barely able to stop himself from flinching when the Bomb fell no more then a few feet behind them, the noise and shockwave was enough to shatter the rear window and any remaining glass on the car. Let alone the blazing heat and the Flames pressing forward so fast that it was nothing more then a blur of red and orange Chasing after them.

Lee and Shikamaru crouched down in the back seat, truly believing that it would catch them for a moment. Gai wouldn't let that happen though, he flawlessly dodged anything in his path until the heavy rains fought the flames back.

Gai looked up again then abruptly turned right sharply, spinning the car around completely and heading the opposite way, getting a few feet away from his position before a bomb dropped directly where he was. He also found himself going head first into an approaching Jeep driven by a member of the apposing army. Even worse their was a large machine gun mounted on top and it was firing on them.

Gai turned lightly to the right, watching a trail of holes burst through the side of the car just a few inches from a head shot. Then he lifted the gun and fired quickly with an impulse, the two front tires of the car burst open and the car uncontrollably spent over side ways and rolled over. Then Gai fired one last shot, striking the exposed gas line and erupting the car in an earth shaking explosion.

The man sighed in relief as he outran the last wave of attack, Gai looked up in preparation for the next but this time he found that a Leaf aircraft had taken down the plane.

"I have to get you two someplace safe." Gai made a sharp turn to the right, throwing the car into a controlled spin and a 180 degree turn after coming face to face with another Tank. He hit the next street before it could run him over.

"There is no place safe! Look around. Their no way out, we can't keep going at this rate" Lee reached over and pulled Shikamaru's head down following Gai's example. With good reason, the car came under gunfire, the front windshield shattering from the rain of bullets aimed towards them.

Gai lifted his Assault gun out of the window again and pulled the trigger, shooting the attacker in the neck. "Hope may be frail but it's hard to kill. Don't ever give up even when things seem imposable. "

Lee was right though, no place really was safe. With the storm sending a Category 3 hurricane and growing, 75 mile an hour and gaining winds and a torrent of rain. Dogfights everywhere in the sky, fire and artillery fights in the streets, and who knows what was going on in the water, it was hell everywhere. No place was safe. "I'll find someplace to drop you off, it's going to get a lot worse with the storm coming in." Gai already had to shout for them to hear him.

He abruptly stopped, sending Lee and Shikamaru flying forward but thankfully pulled back by the seat belts. The street was completely flooded to the point where the current would have carried his car away if he continued, he had to pull back and find another way. But apparently the tank didn't, one was coming right for them. "Oh man." Gai threw the car into reverse just as a missile lunched directly for them. The Sound wasn't aiming for anything in particular, they were just trying to destroy everything and get the death count up, Konoha soldiers like Gai took priority though.

"No!" Gai pulled the riffle from in-between his seat and the door, quickly firing on the approaching projectile. All three of them quickly crouched down as it detonated and sent a rush of flames over his car, it burned immensely, a chemical flame being so close, surrounding them. Neither Lee nor Shikamaru had ever felt this type of flame created with what ever substance enhanced the missile. It caused an unexpected Chakra release from Shikamaru in the form he used it most.

The next thing they knew the flames were completely black, covered in Shikamaru's shadow. 'What?' He looked up, placing his arm over his face to block some of the heat, 'What happened? Why did do this?...It must have been that fire, it can't be normal.' That much he knew, he could smell it from where he was. 'A reaction...what ever is in that Fire cause same type of reaction in me, allergic maybe?' He pushed the flames back, controlling them just as he did anything else when he used Shadow Mimic no Jutsu.

By the time the smoke clear it turned out that most of the flames came from a Konoha Helicopter that dropped a missile on the tank "Good to know we have help..."

Itachi sat Kisame down outside of the control room on the third floor of the right tower. "What are you doing?" Kisame asked.

Itachi walked inside. "Locking the elevators, the only place Konohamaru is going is the roof no matter what he presses." Itachi called back, it was his stubble way of protecting the boy since they didn't have time to make sure he went up to the helipad.

"Wouldn't he just take the stairs?" Kisame said, feeling that he was undermining the boy's inelegance, Konohamaru was smarter then he looked. He smirked, Konohamaru would be yelling at him for that remark right now.

"That's why all of the other doors will be locked except for the roof."

"Your good." Kisame said, glancing over to the next door over down the hall as a man flew out of it. "Huh?" He watched as a boy came out directly afterwards, slamming the door shut behind him. "You can't be serous." The boy in question had a striking resemblance to Itachi, it was uncanny.

The man pulled himself to his feet, glaring down at the boy as he reached for him with both arms. The boy grabbed his arms and pulled him in while he jumped forward and sent a kick to his face. The man fell back against the wall, dazed but not out. He threw punch at the boy but he was too quick and crouched down before he was hit, then threw a blow to the man's side. The man faltered slightly and boy gave him a swift roundhouse kick to the side of his head while he was leaning to the side. He managed to knock him out. He wasn't bad.

The boy turned towards Kisame, a little surprised that he hadn't notice him beofre. Kisame sent him a mock wave "Let me guess, you must be Sasuke." The boy tensed up, ready to fight probably with the thought that Kisame was one of Orochimaru's men . "Figures. Hey Itachi, guess who just showed up."

Sasuke glared at him "What did you just say?" He watched on as Itachi emerged from the control room and he felt his anger flare. "What are you doing here?" Sasuke shouted.

"I had to take care of some...Business." Which was still unfinished but Kisame took priority over Orochimaru, and Konohamaru would be safe if he followed directions.

"You! Your working for Orochimaru." Sasuke growled.

Kisame snorted and laughed, though neither of them responded Sasuke could easily draw an answer from that response. He wasn't really interested in any answers, the only thing he wanted from Itachi was revenge and he couldn't stop himself from trying if he wanted too. The furry was overwhelming "Bastard." Sasuke charged at him, his eyes wide and blood red in an anger that he had never experienced before, throwing a punch at his unyielding brother. Itachi carelessly stepped to the side and kicked Sasuke in the stomach hard enough to lift his body a half foot off the ground and drop him to his knees.

Despite the pain and lost air, Sasuke forced himself to jump on to his feet stepping forward punched Itachi in the stomach, only it didn't have any effect. In fact Itachi just smirked, grabbing him by his neck as he tried to move back. "It's been years and your still just as weak as you were then."

"You...son of a" Sasuke was abruptly thrown back into the wall, bouncing off with strong repulsion and falling to the ground. 'No...it's not possible.' Sasuke's mind raced, screaming in pain when he felt Itachi stomp into his back, hard. 'I've been training for years...and I can't get one damn hit off of him.' before he could finish that sentence he was being lifted off the ground by his neck and pressed firmly against the wall by Itachi. 'How is he so strong! How is it that I can't get close to laying a finger on him! After all of that work, way is there still such a difference between us?'

"Why are you still so weak?" Itachi sighed, "You're...pitiful." Itachi drove his knee into Sasuke stomach as he was trying to lift his hand, each time he attempted to move another blow came and left him unable to do anything but feel the pain and struggle weakly.

Finally Itachi let Sasuke fall to the floor in an embarrassing manner, knocking what little air he had in his lungs out on impact. Sasuke gasped, only to cough up a small amount of blood before he could take in a good amount of air and leavening him choked. "I-Ita" Sasuke was cut off by Kisame.

"Itachi! Problem!" Kisame was on his feet now, pointing to 3 Grenades that came flying at them from an empty hallway, more likely it came from the vent above because Kisame would have spotted someone of they showed him. He would have tossed them back too if the room wasn't spinning from the poison.

Itachi grunted in frustration, making his way back over to Kisame and placing his arm over his shoulder before dashing off past Sasuke down the hallway. Sasuke could only watch as he struggled to get up, just barely making it to a standing position before the 3 grenades exploded.

He flinched and covered is face with one arm, hearing a second sound accompany the detonation.

At the last second the fire shutter rolled down and separated him from the flames. "What?"

"Close wasn't it."

Sasuke turned around to see Orochimaru standing no more then a few inches behind him, he never even notice him until he said something, it made him _very_ uneasy. "Orochimaru." Sasuke glared at the man, taking a few steps forward.

"I want to talk to you, I think you'll want to hear what I have to say."

"Great!" Konohamaru said to himself, backtracking to the same hallway he had escaped from with the help of Itachi and Kisame. "The elevator doesn't work and all of the doors or locked!" He said angrily, though the trip wasn't completely useless, he'd stopped at a bathroom and scrubbed the blood off himself. 'I'm not leaving with out Naruto and Sasuke.' He thought stubbornly, there was no way he'd leave them even if Itachi had told him to.

He became more uneasy as he reached the end of the corridor, slowly opening the door to find another empty hallway...not completely empty though. Kisame's silver Magnum lay on the ground in front of the door 'Kisame...' He knew Konohamaru too well, of course he would go back for them even though he knew the risks. Though they seemed minimal since most of the guards were disposed of by Itachi and Kisame.

Konohamaru walked slowly, clinching the tightly as he moved through the eerie quite, it made him nervous, afraid even of what might come out unexpectedly. He tried to identify every noise, the distance and faint sound of gunfire nowhere near him, the sound of a Helicopter somewhere outside, and then nothing but his own breathing and heartbeat. "Where are you guys."

Konohamaru pressed his back against the wall and peered around the corner, thankfully he found an elevator and a stairwell. "No way all of them could be locked." Konohamaru sighed in relief, pressing the down button and watching the doors roll open.

Konohamaru stepped inside, pressing the button for two floors below the one he was currently on. The doors slid closed smoothly and the elevator descended down the path, but as it past the first floor the lights went out. "What?" He looked around frantically, feeling the box fall far past where he set it to go. "Oh man..." He ran to the panel and began pressing the now red glowing buttons, no response though, the elevator counted downward uncontrollably.

"Come back here!" Iruka shouted, following Kabuto at full speed about 300 miles outward of Konoha.

"I don't have anymore time for you Iruka, I have a schedule to keep." Kabuto called back carelessly. "I'll give it too you, you didn't do as bad as I expected." Kabuto reached up to a small glass door above the throttle and pressed the red button inside. "Later, Umino Iruka."

A missile dropped out of the bottom of his Fighter plane, A black shell with a green warhead. "What is that thing?" Kakashi said, a little uneasy since he wasn't in control of anything that could happen next. He watched as the green head detached and fired towards Iruka. Iruka rolled to the side, falling back to avoid it, it still managed to find it's way under his cockpit.

It triggered something, that black missile Kabuto launched blew apart in a cloud of thick black smoke. Thousands of smaller projectiles fired towards him, homing in on him.

"No!" Iruka rolled the ship completely upside down to the point where Kakashi was looking up to the ground.

"What are you doing!" Kakashi's calm voice was starting to crack, it was already clear that he was uneasy about this flight in the first place, this was pushing it/

"Just hold on!" Iruka said, watching the ground approach faster and faster as the smaller projectiles exploded above him. The explosions trailed after him, coming closer and closer towards the Jet... 'NOW!' Iruka rolled the ship right side up again, scraping the very tip of hull and the green device across the ground as the aircraft shot forward with sudden acceleration. Iruka had some obvious talent in what he did.

Hundreds of the smaller projectiles slammed into the ground and exploded, the blast took a few more of them out in the process of Iruka's failed attempted to destroy the device attached. "Damnit I can't get them off of me!" Iruka yelled, lifting the ship higher into the air and sending the jet into a nose first spin. The projectiles flew past him like bullets in golden streaks in the dizzying blur of stirred backgrounds and horizons. Kakashi honestly didn't know how Iruka could stand to do these types of maneuvers without getting sick.

"Brace for impact!"

"What?"

The ship shook violently as one of the smaller missiles struck the wing of the plane, followed by countless others. In the blink of an eye the windshield was surrounded by flames and the plane immediately dipped down, falling head first toward the ground. "No!"

He was completely separated from his team, he didn't know or had the time to find out where they were, he had a bigger priority. Ebisu ran towards the open door way with haste, this task was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Besides looking through every door from the top of the building down their was no way to find Konohamaru, very tedious. He was tempted to take the initiative to find out about his team, but the only way to do that was by his radio.

If he used his radio his transmission _would_ be picked up and traced and then it was a race against the clock to get to the roof. Pulling a move like that prematurely could cost the lives of him and his team.

A man turned the corner, turning immediately pivoting towards Ebisu, pulling out of his thoughts Ebisu ran at him head on, jumping to the left as the man fired the first shot, then crouching lower and avoiding the second. By then he was right next to the sentry and was able to grab his wrist before the third shot fired. Ebisu pulled him in as he sent kick to the man's torso, then turned around completely as the man stumbled backwards but he only got one step before Ebisu pulled the man's arm over his shoulder and threw him to the ground roughly. Subtle enough for his taste, he hadn't used any ammunition yet and strived not to since it was very limited.

Ebisu continued past the downed man heading around the corner and quickly steeping into the still open elevator. The only problem was that as soon as he pressed the button and the elevator started move, the lights went out and it started descending of it's own accord. "What the hell?" He slammed his fist against the door and pressed the buttons hastily, the only thing he gained in response was a red light indicating the locked status. 'Damnit, he knows I here.'

Konohamaru clinched the gun tightly as the elevator came to a stop on what seemed like the very bottom floor. Light pierced the darkness as the doors slid open until every corner of the small box was illuminated and his surroundings reveled themselves to him. He had in fact went down to the bottom floor, because he could see the tiled floors, bare concrete walls and the network of pipes and cables that made up the ceiling.

It was dark and shadowy, barely giving more light then the elevator, Konohamaru could feel his heart racing as he stepped out. He nearly screamed when a drop of water fell on to his head from one of the pipes above, this was what was creating most of the noise, that and the sound of steam.

This was apparently used only for storage and as a boiler room for heating and cooling from all of the equipment. Which is why he knew it was _really_ bad when he heard quickened foot steps heading towards him from down the hall around the corner. 'Crap!' He shouted in his mind, immediately thinking back to his training with Kisame and Itachi. Strangely enough the first thing that came to his mind was how Kisame teased him about his scarf all the time, he also told him to use it to his advantage.

'_I can't do it.' Konohamaru said apprehensively._

'_It's not that bad.' Kisame sighed._

'_...I don't see how you can even do something like that.' _

'_Simple. You do what your afraid of, then you get the courage afterwords.' Kisame told him._

'_That doesn't make sense, it should be the other way around.' Konohamaru said._

_Kisame smirked 'Yeah, should be shouldn't it. I got news for you kid, that's how the world works.'_

Konohamaru nodded to convince himself, then ran forward with the magnum in hand. He climbed up one of the One of the pieces equipment of equipment that resembled a tank. Then jumped upward, grabbing on to the closest pipe with one hand while placing the gun into his waistband. All of the training for strength he'd gotten from Itachi, and the balance he'd received from Kisame was paying off. He almost smiled at his quick thinking and physical development, but he focused (another thing he learned from Itachi) and pulled his scarf off of his neck.

Then he wrapped it loosely around a pipe so that most of it was hanging down, then he jumped down and dived for the elevator. It was still locked, obviously not by Itachi this time since it forced him to go down instead of the roof, so none of the buttons worked and the doors didn't close. He did the best he could to hide himself against the wall as 3 men came around the corner. They were wearing security guard uniforms and carrying hand guns, the man in front was the only one holding a radio though. "Sir, were at Elevator 22 in the basement, we got him."

Orochimaru locked the elevators and controlled them...so he had to know Konohamaru was there somehow. Konohamaru looked around the elevator, of course finding a Camera mounted above the panel that he couldn't see before, it was almost clear now that he had some light. "Oh crap."

The man pulled the Scarf down with a sharp tug, instead of Konohamaru's body tumbling down as expected, the whole pipe snapped and fell. Slamming into the man's head and sending a burst of burning steam blasting onto them causing a few yells of pain came from the cloud of mist. Konohamaru saw this and glanced back up to the camera, he had to move now if he wanted to get away. So that's what he did, he ran out of the elevator and into the burning mist, it was more painful then expected.

He almost cried out in pain himself and would have if not for his Scarf being blown into his face and shielded him, Konohamaru definitely had luck. It was a miracle that he came out the other side without running into someone. He ended up in a narrow hallway about 20 feet long, it was empty so that meant that their was only a full sprint before he stood a chance of getting away. He pulled the Scarf off of his face and started running, only to stop dead in his tracks at the sound of a gunshot and a body hitting the ground in front of him at the end of his path.

Konohamaru flinched and lifted the gun as a man steeped in front of him "Ebisu!"

"Konohamaru?" Ebisu looked at him in surprise, that much could be seen past his sunglasses. "How did you get down here?"

"The elevator just started taking me down on it's own." Konohamaru told him, if a dead man wasn't in-between them he probably would have hugged Ebisu right there.

His words were more then enough to snap him back into his mission, making him more aware of the fact that this was an obvious setup. He pulled the radio out of his back pocket, this more then qualified as the right time to use it. "I've secured Konohamaru, drop whatever your doing and get out of there, _now_." He made it as short as possible because every second counted, the race had already started and he was way behind. "Alright Konohamaru"

His eyes widened as he saw one of the guards emerge from the cloud of steam...no, he wasn't one of the same men that Konohamaru had tricked, he was holding an assault riffle and must have just come from one of the upper levels through the stairs. "NO!" Ebisu pushed Konohamaru out of the way as the man started firing, Ebisu wasn't nearly fast enough to return fire because before he knew it his torso was being filled with bullets and his body was knocked off his feet from the force.

Everything around him moved at a slower pace, even his body seemed to be falling in slow motion. It may have been that way because his mind was racing, he had time to look around and think about what was happening to him. He also felt that split second feeling that happened before something was about hurt extremely bad, almost as if it took his nerves a second to process the pain. It was like his blood ran cold and warmed again, being immense pain with it.

He slammed into the ground, sliding a few inches backwards on his own blood before coming to rest. Though he couldn't see much he knew it really must have been bad from all of the red liquid splattered across the walls and floor. "Ko-Kono..."

"No, stop." Orochimaru called out, "You might hit the boy. I still need him" Orochimaru emerged from behind the corner, pushing the barrel of the man's gun down.

Konohamaru ran to Ebius's side, an absolutly horrified look on his face, he was even shaking. "Ebisu!"

"Run." He called out weakly, watching Orochimaru casually approach. He may have been able to feel his strength draining out of him in the form of blood pooling on the floor, but he wasn't going to let Orochimaru have Konohamaru, even if it took his last bit of strength.

Ebisu lifted the gun in his last rush of adrenaline, pointing it past Konohamaru and firing two trembling shots past his head into what seemed to be the wall. Then he dropped the gun and shoved Konohamaru into the wall but what was actually a trash chute that connected from one of the upper levels.

Ebisu smirked up at Orochimaru, trying to form words with his weak lips before his face went blank and his body went completely limp.


	9. Chapter 9: If knowledge is power

Chapter 9: If knowledge is power...

Closer, he knew he was getting closer but he was always just a little behind. Naruto heard events happening around him, he couldn't count how many times he heard gunfire in so many different places. He was a little thankful for it, if there was more fighting that meant Sasuke was still alive and most likely the cause. Naruto himself was on the opposite building, the fighting was going on in tower 1, the right one, and he was in tower 2 the left one. His mind was focused, he had to get to the skyway that connected the two towers, that was the best chance he had to find Sasuke or Konohamaru.

It just wasn't working though.

He was encountering too much resistance at the skyway, there was only so much he could handle. As of now he was pressed against a wall, an elevator and a stairway on the other side of it and also the skyway. Along with 2 sentries that wanted him dead. Though he had an assault riffle and they only had handguns he couldn't take them down. They were just too much for him, he couldn't get a clear shot unless he wanted his head blown off. He could even hear them calling for reinforcements, this wasn't going to work. He had to leave now if wanted to stay alive and find another way.

Naruto abandoned his plan to use the bridge and ran for the door behind him, 'Maybe If I go to the first floor I can go outside and get in that way.'

! - ! - !

Konohamaru couldn't count how many times he'd slammed his head against the narrow chute as he tumbled downward. One minute Ebisu was being shot protecting him and the next he was falling through this, It was all happening too fast!

Konohamaru fell out of the chute, into an empty cart he figured, letting out a choked cough from all of the clouded dust he'd kicked up. His back was hurting from the impact but other then that he was ok, he still didn't want to move though. He had too many things to take in, it was like a horrible nightmare he wanted to wake up from.

'Ebisu...He didn't have to die, he didn't have anything to do with this!' Konohamaru shouted to himself 'Why is this happening!'

So many things forced him to keep moving, way too many to count. Konohamaru climbed out of the cart with and jumped on to the concrete floor of the what seemed to be another part of the lower level. A simple white room with support pillars in neat rows, all of the carts made it seem like a laundry room, it was hard to tell from all of the steam surrounding this place. He could clearly spot one thing though, the door.

Konohamaru clinched Kisame's magnum even tighter, even the fall wasn't enough to make him let go of it. He moved slowly, fearing that something would burst through unexpectedly if he ran to it with in excess of haste. That same fear of the unknown drove him to go faster, there was too much nose around for him just to be in this room by himself, most of which he couldn't identify.

Konohamaru reached for the knob... "Ahhh!" He jumped back, the door suddenly opened and by the time he landed the gun was already lifted toward whoever entered. "Don't come...Sa-Sasuke?"

Konohamaru dropped the gun an ran at an very surprised Sasuke, he wrapped his arm around his waist and held him tightly, as tightly as he could mange in his current state. Despite everything he'd done, as much as he held himself together so far...He couldn't stop crying. "Sasuke! I missed you so much, I thought you were dead! Orochimaru ...he." Konohamaru's mouth went dry, causing another loud sob to erupt from his throat.

Sasuke looked down at the boy, still a little surprised...He rested his hands on Konohamaru's shoulder and pushed him back softly.

"?" he glance back when he heard footsteps behind him, with in a few seconds Orochimaru was standing over his shoulder.

"You bastard!" Konohamaru shouted, he dashed for the discarded magnum only a few inches away from him. He nearly fell flat on his face when his scarf was tugged back sharply...Konohamaru looked back, quickly becoming confused to find that Sasuke was the one holding him back. "Sasuke?"

Sasuke silently pulled him back, his superior strength and the fact that Konohamaru wasn't expecting it made it easy for him. "What are you doing? Orochimaru's right there!" Konohamaru yelled, still getting no response from Sasuke when he found himself suddenly being held by his arms. "We have to get out of here!"

Konohamaru's struggling became less and less...until he stopped completely, his eyes wide and his mouth open slightly. "Whywhy haven't any of you said anything...and your holding me back...no...no this can't be happening! Please don't tell me it's true..." The silence gave him all the answer he needed, it took a few seconds to sink in. Tears blurred his vision again and more sobs escaped from his throat, he started to flail wildly, kicking and punching and doing anything that would help him escape.

By some miracle he'd escaped from Sasuke's grip and ran forward, quickly picking up Kisame's gun. He was still reluctant to raise it toward Sasuke, his mind was yelling to him that he was wrong "You can't be working with Orochimaru! Please no..."

Sasuke walked towards him, silent and stoic as ever, apparently with out a friendly intent. That part of him was gone, he already left that behind.

Sasuke reached forward and grabbed Konohamaru by his collar, lifting him easily off the ground. Konohamaru let out a loud grunt and arched upward, sending a kick into Sasuke's arm. Konohamaru had the element of surprise this time, Sasuke didn't expect Konohamaru to have any type of training yet . Konohamaru had to take advantage now, he sent both feet into Sasuke's chest in to the most powerful kick he could mange. Then he planted both feet on Sasuke's chest and pulled him downward, in theory he should have flipped Sasuke over and most likely would have if he put more effort into it... Since Konohamaru was reluctant to hurt him, Sasuke only had to place a foot forward and he was holding Konohamaru off the ground by his arm.

Sasuke sent a sharp punch to Konohamaru's chest, effectively loosening Konohamaru's hold on his arm, and threw him to the ground. "Uuuffh! Why are you doing this?" Konohamaru yelled angry, furiously wiping the tears from his eyes with both arms as he scrambled on to his feet.

"You wouldn't understand."

"What are you talking about!" Konohamaru yelled at the top of his lungs, his heart raced more and more as his anger, his confusion, his sadness rose, making him pant involuntarily. "Just stop it!"

"It's nothing personal." Sasuke told him with his characteristic coldness, he never spoke like that to Konohamaru before, it made him shutter.

"Nothing personal!" Konohamaru clinched his fist together so tightly that his hands shook "We're friends! And you just" Konohamaru yelled furiously, he couldn't even get his words out anymore. The anger mad his voice quake to the point where he couldn't talk past a scream, it was like it had taken over his body completely, it made him run uncontrollably at Sasuke.

Anger made his usually irradiate movement's predictable, Sasuke stepped to the side so quickly that he was behind Konohamaru before the boy even noticed it. The next thing Konohamaru knew was a sharp pain in the back of his head and the loss of conciseness.

! - ! - !

"Gai-sensei, are you alright!" Lee yelled worriedly, he wasn't sure if Gai had heard him, the storm was so intense that it sounded as if a train was passing above them. With no power to any standing streetlights and the thick black clouds casting a dark shadow over Konoha, it was near pitch black outside. They could only feel the torrent of rain and wind, that was the only existence that seemed to be left.

Of course Gai had the headlights on, but it did little now and only gave him a view of a foot or so past the hood. From what he could tell he was driving in water that was almost over the car's wheels, only an inch from carried away in the current. "I'm fine, just hold on you two." Gai called back, earlier a sharp and quite blunt piece of debris smashed through the windshield and had struck him though no one could tell were except him.

"We're not going to make it!" Shikamaru shouted, holding his arm in front of his face to block the rain flying at him, he was already up to his knees in water from that alone. Gai was truly skilled to drive through this, but he couldn't hold out forever.

"Don't give up yet, were still alive." Gai called back, he was thankful that the Sound forces were pulling back, or had been taken down by the storm. But he knew he had to survive some how, for Shikamaru and Lee if not for himself. Which made him think...where was his Lee.

All of a sudden the windows shattered, every remaining one on the side and the rear windshield, the glass coming down on them in a rain of it's own. The wind pushed it harder and drove it with a painful force, Shikamaru cried out loudly, no one was really sure if it was from pain since it didn't sound as such. He cried out because of the sudden out pour of charka from his body, it was how he had some how reacted to great shock during pressure and stress, ever since the fire had gotten those chemicals on him...

His Charka took it's shadowy form, or more or less inhabited the darkness around them. It gave him vision...He could see through the Darkness...no, he could see only what the Darkness covered, which was everything. "Gai! Go Left!"

Gai simply complied with no other options, making a sharp turn to the left that sent a wave of water outward. It was just in time, large metal pole came flying through Lee's window, just barely past his cheek and out Shikamaru's side with out him noticing. It did leave a cut behind though.

Gai squinted and peered forward, trying to see farther then the lights would allow him. A wall...a wall of glass came into view, it was the wall of a building...not sure what one but they were flying at it with no avail. The grill of the car smashed through the wall in a flurry of glass, metal framing and the wall of water that had been previously held back by it before. Gai moved and turned quickly to avoid support pillars with the vehicles full agility, smashing carelessly through desks and furniture while keeping just enough speed to stay ahead of the waters.

Gai made a subtle shift to the right and then up a stairwell, it was a struggle not to fly out of his seat or cringe at the sound of the car doors scraping against at walls.

"Gai? What's going on?" Lee asked in a flustered voice, clinching on to anything he could. He honestly never, ever wanted to get into another car again.

"Stairs!" Gai yelled, "Hold on!" The car's speed sent it launching in to the air at the top of the stairs, it slamming into the wall around the landing and Gai was able to quickly turn and head up the second flight. Smashing through another glass wall that separated the stairs from the secound floor. The darkness out side seemed to be intensified inside, Gai was driving blindly through the second floor, even the headlights didn't seem to illuminate as much here.

The Car smashed through another glass door and into the darkness of the second floor. This place seemed like an office building or something of that nature. "Gai! Tornado!" Shikamaru yelled.

"What?" Lee felt his insides clinch, he didn't think this could get any worse.

"It's a spin off from the storm, it's coming down on this building!" Shikamaru yelled.

"Alright, hold on...This is going to be one hell of a ride." Gai slammed his foot down on the Gas and pushed the car forward toward the window.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Lee asked.

"Don't worry, we're going to make it." Gai called back with his usual confidence, his car wouldn't be able to take anymore after this. "With skill comes luck...Get ready!" Gai quickly sent the car into a spin and faced the opposite direction, the gave the car one last push in the toward the end of the room, "We're going to make it!"

The car smashed through the window, sailing into the air in a rush of water and glass. A black funnel cloud from above was falling to the ground fast, and the car was going to over shoot the next building. "Jump!" Gai called back, opening the door and diving out though he knew he was about 50 feet in the air. Shikamaru and Lee didn't hesitate to do the same, Diving into the second floor of a parking garage.

Gai rolled into a graceful landing but quickly dived to the ground again, watching as his car flew over his head and smashed into the ground a few feet away. Seconds later it exploded. "Again...this is just not a good year for me." Gai sighed.

! - ! - !

Naruto cautiously stepped out of the elevator and into the top of the underground parking garage. It connected both towers though there was no way in from the outside since the facility was locked down, which also meant there was no way out. "..." He couldn't help but be uneasy, the only light he had was the orange glow of the emergency light. The constant sound of his breathing and pounding almost was enough to make him flinch.

He moved cautiously between the cars, checking around each corner as he made is way toward the opposing door. '...Damn this better be worth it.'

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Uhh..."

Konohamaru returned to consciousness and opened his eyes, feeling a fading throbbing pain between his head and neck before he was aware of anything else. "Eh...Where am I?" Konohamaru tried to move, only to find his arms were tied behind him. He was sitting with his hands and arms bound to a chair, something white was attached to his temples and both of his abs...They were electrodes connected to wires...Konohamaru followed the wires with his eyes, tracing the thin lines to a table in front of him.

There was a large, square machine in front of another smaller box, Orochimaru was sitting across from him looking upon the boy expectantly. Other then that there was nothing, the room was bare and dark except for a single light shining down on the table that he could barely see Orochimaru through.

"Finally woke up huh?" Orochimaru said carelessly, he didn't sound motivated like before...Now he sounded normal, calm, at ease, almost friendly.

"What is this?" Konohamaru's voice was scratchy and weak, Sasuke must have hit a bigger portion of his neck then he originally though. "Let me go."

"You know some things I want to know." Orochimaru leaned back casually, running his hand over the box. in front of him. "So, we're going to play a little game. It's simple..."

"YouAhhhhhh!" Konohamaru screamed in pain as electricity coursed through his body, his eyes widened and tears glazed them involuntary.

"I'm going to ask you a Yes or No question, if you give any other answer then this happens." Orochimaru flipped a switch again, turning a light green and sending the electricity pulsing into his body. Konohamaru screamed in pain, so loud that he was sure a the whole building could hear him...not that he cared. "If you answer untruthfully, it will happen again." Orochimaru saw Konohamaru visibly tense as he leaned forward and pushed the switch again with the same results, only this time it lasted a only a few seconds.

"I hate you, letme go you bastard!" Konohamaru managed to yell out between pants, he was so tired from screaming he was ready to just pass out and let Orochimaru do what ever he wanted.

"If you want to make it worse on yourself I'm sure I can dig out a few more pieces of your parents." Orochimaru said with an impish smirk.

Konohamaru froze, inhaling sharply at the mention of what Orochimaru. He couldn't help but shutter.

"Thought so...Oh and one more thing before we start, if you do lie." Orochimaru turned a knob causing a small buzzing in the air to increase in pitch "It's going to get worse...so let's get started shall we."

Konohamaru held his head down, he couldn't help but think he could have avoided all of this if he'd gone with Itachi. He couldn't believe that Sasuke would do something like this, just give him to Orochimaru with out so much as a second glance, the though just brought depression and tears to his eyes. Sasuke had to have known Konohamaru would be tortured when he gave him to Orochimaru, why would he do it in the first place. 'Sasuke...Naruto...'

"Alright, is your name Konohamaru?" Orochimaru asked mockingly, the bastard was having fun with this.

Konohamaru snorted and glared at him "No." As expected his answer was followed by a sharp and pulsing pain that made him cry out, this time a sob followed, he couldn't stop himself.

"Heh, still defiant, We'll see how long that last." Orochimaru smiled, that small buzz increasing in pitch which meant that the next one would hurt a lot more... "Do you know if your grandfather has any specific information regarding the Sound country or any of it's plans?"

"No. AhhhhhhHHAAAA!" The pain was much worse then he expected it to be, it felt like his nerves were on fire and. Blue streaks ran behind his clinched eyes sending more hot tears down his cheek "STOP!STOP!"

"I'll give it too you, your a stubborn one. Just like your father was."

Konohamaru would have shot him a look if he could stop himself from clinching, even though Orochimaru stopped there was still a stinging pain. Any remaining hope was gone for him, he knew at the push of a button he could and most likely would die a slow and painful death, feeling this type of hopelessness was almost worse then the pain it self. Now Konohamaru knew why Orochimaru made the room so dark, it amplified that sense of total solidarity. He didn't know if he had any will to fight left, he wanted to just give in to Orochimaru right there if it would make this stop, or at least less painful.

"Same question."

"...No." Konohamaru felt more tears falling uncontrollably as he tried to contemplate whether he should be loyal to his country or end this horrible torment. He knew too much... a part of him wished that Orochimaru would just kill him already so he didn't have to go through this.

Once again he was punished for his disobedience with a rush of electricity that coursed from to his head and abdomen through out his whole body. He screamed so loud that his throat was sore with in seconds of producing the sound, he thrashed about wildly as if it would make it stop or at least ease the pain though he knew it wouldn't. He just found it imposable to keep still during this. "Aahhhh!NO! STOP PLEASE!"

He couldn't believe that he had been brought down to begging, but showing his weakness seemed to satisfy Orochimaru and he stopped for the moment. "Do you know anything of any alliances being formed with the Leaf?" He asked.

Konohamaru shook his head, desperately hoping his answer would work, he didn't know how he was still holding on "No."

The buzzing sound became higher in pitch once again, making Konohamaru flinch and his eyes shoot open. He had enough time to realize that the large square object in-front of him was a polygraph before an even more intense pulse electrified him. His mouth fell open but little more then a few gasps could escape, he couldn't even cry out, he couldn't even move this time, he was completely paralyzed . He thought this was it, he thought he would die right here, he was wishing for death over this torment.

Orochimaru wouldn't let him off so easily, he cut the power and allowed Konohamaru to start to regain his senses before continuing. "I'm pressed for time so move this along." Orochimaru sighed, he was dismissing this as if it was nothing, Konohamaru would have been even more angry at this if he had the presence of mind, now he didn't have any defense left. "You don't seem to realize that every time you lie your just telling me you know the answer." Orochimaru told him "So Do you know the current state of Konoha's defense."

Konohamaru honestly wanted to just die right now and end this, he still wasn't over the pain from the first question and now he was being asked another. He wanted to lie, he didn't want to tell Orochimaru what he knew since he honestly knew way too much. He finally realized that this was another reason that his Grandfather was so persistent about what where he was and what he did...Now he would have said anything just to. "...N-No! NO NO NO NO DAMNIT JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!."

The high pitched whine jumped to a frequency that was harsh on Konohamaru's ears, his head was racing with drifting thoughts that finally came together in a blink of an eye. 'This is it...No, I don't want to die!...Now I know why Ebisu was always trying to protect me...I should have listen to him' "AHHHHH!"

Bolts of electricity flashed like lighting, running visibly over his body in blue streaks. They sizzled and crackled over his body, it over loaded his mind erasing everything and leaving nothing but the pain. Every part of his body twitched, he found it imposable to move again, or breath, he found himself going numb and limp if not from the electrocution but from suffocation...No, he wasn't being suffocated, he just couldn't stop himself from screaming. His voice had already reached new highs that could be heard echoing through the halls outside the room, he couldn't even hear that over the loud buzzing in his ears. Words came spilling out of his mouth though he had no knowledge of himself saying anything. "STOP! PLEASE!"

Orochimaru cut the power and allowed Konohamaru to slump weakly in the chair. He wasn't coherent enough to realize where he was or what was happening to him, he was left with nothing but numbness and burning. Orochimaru could see it in his weak wonton eyes, what ever will Konohamaru had left, that effectively destroyed it. "You have a stronger will then I though Konohamaru, you held out much longer then I expected."

The radio on his waist roared to life with a loud roar of static that cleared into Kabuto's voice, "Orochimaru."

Orochimaru picked up the radio and held it a few inches from his mouth "What is it?"

"Transport is on the roof, I'm ready to go."

"Alright." Orochimaru returned the radio to it's spot on his waist then shoved his hand into his pocket, emerging with a knife. "We'll have to finish this later Konohamaru." Orochimaru walked behind the chair and cut the ropes, letting Konohamaru fall to the ground with a loud thump. Orochimaru grabbed him by the part of collar wrapped around his neck and pulled him on to his feet, that seemed to bring back some of his awareness though he was too weak to do so for very long.

"No, let me go." He sounded so weak, it was completely contrast to his usual self.

"I still have to get some answers out of you." Orochimaru said, he was still talking about this as if it was nothing and it only made Konohamaru grow madder and more hateful of him.

"You..." Konohamaru clinched his fist tightly, what made it even worse was he knew he couldn't do anything against him. Orochimaru had him by the shoulder and was pushing him along in an undignifying manner, out of the light into the darkness and then into a blinding light. He had to squint to see anything in the bright hall outside the room, but he could easily make out Sasuke waiting by the door. "You bastard...You let him..."

Sasuke didn't rely, he just shoved his hands in his pockets kept that same cold uncaring persona he showed everyone else. "Huh?"

_Crash_

Glass shattered, a window someplace below them, Orochimaru glanced out the window and looked down. He could see glass falling from a window frame a few floors down on the right tower across from them. "It's nothing, we don't have time for it."

! - ! - !

Naruto clinged to the walls of the elevator protectively, it didn't do much good though since the elevator that ran down to the parking structure under the two towers lay on the outside of the structures, so the walls were made of glass and could be seen through. Not a good place for someone afraid of heights which Naruto was grateful he wasn't. He was able to look over to the right tower that he'd just come from while he traveled upward.

_Crash!_

Naruto flinched and looked outward to a more specific spot on the opposite tower, the window of the opposing floor he was passing just imploded. Someone had just jumped into the building and he hadn't even noticed it, he still couldn't see anyone or anything past the broken frame. "What the hell was that?"

The sound of an engine flared up like a gust of wind and faded just as quickly, Naruto pressed his forehead against the glass and looked as far downward as he could toward the sorce...he found nothing. "This is!" Naruto flinched when he heard the ring of the elevator and the doors rolled open. 17th floor on the other side of the skyway...3 floors down from the roof.

He didn't move, the sound of gunfire on the connecting bridge a few feet away kept him pressed against the wall. No doubt these were the same men that had kept him at bay before were fighting another person. Who ever had came through the window, was now...Had been there target, all of the gunfire stopped abruptly...

Naruto peered around the door toward the skyway just enough to see 6 dead men, it prompted him to run over and investigate. 'Whoa...' He was careful when he looked into the skyway just incase the person was still there...No, who ever it was wasn't there anymore.

_Buzzz _

All of the radio the men wore on their shoulders started receiving, but the message was chopped and static as if their was some type of interference. "Ebisu! Ebisu get up to the roof now, Konohamaru" The transmission cut off cut off, followed by a large explosion from above.

"Konohamaru? Konohamaru what!" Naruto was about to pick up the radio and respond to the intercepted message if something hadn't caught his eye. A burning Helicopter fell from the sky, crashing through the skyway roof and landing halfway inside. Naruto could just make out a number and a color of the frame before the Skyway collapsed under the wreckage's weight and both parts were sent tumbling to the ground.

"ThatThat was Ebius's helicopter!"

Just as Ebisu and his team originally though, the moment they used their radios it would be picked up by everyone else, It looked like who ever had Konohamaru took out that Helicopter. "HeThey...were coming to rescue Konohamaru..." Naruto slammed his fist against the wall, Ebisu and his men were dead and Konohamaru was on the roof. There was only one thing to do now...

Naruto ran back towards the elevator, he'd just have to go up to the roof and save Konohamaru himself. It was most likely suicide, but it looked like Konohamaru's only chance now.

! - ! - !

Kakashi kicked open the door to the stairs, looking through with the caution that came from years of training and experience. He was sure someone noticed when he jumped through a window and took out 6 of the Sentries. He didn't even have to waste time looking around, he just had to get to the roof.


	10. Chapter 10: And all power corrupts

Chapter 10: And all power corrupts...

The elevator with the glass wall came to a slow stop on the roof, the elevators on this tower weren't locked as they had been for the previous one. Naruto clinched the weapon in his hand as the door rolled open and he was hit by a strong gust of wind from the outside, but a large square air-conditioning unit placed right in front blocked his view of the source. Naruto ran unseen to the box, pressing his back against it and peering around the side.

He saw a large duel propeller helicopter sitting at the edge of the helipad, it was clearly military used to transport a large number of troops or supplies. But now it was empty except for Kabuto standing at the hatch in the back next to Orochimaru, both propellers were already spinning hence the wind. "What, why aren't you ready to go?" Orochimaru said impatiently. "We should be in the air by now."

"I'm sorry but I encounter some...resistance getting transport here...looks like the team's lighter then I originally thought." Kabuto said, obviously expecting more people "I'm guessing that problem you were talking about must be the cause."

"How long until we can go?"

"Not sure, but there's a few minor repairs I need to make so it shouldn't be long."

"Do it." Orochimaru said, turning around and heading towards the door to the stairwell. "Sasuke."

Sasuke emerged with his hands in his pockets and his expression as cool as ever, Naruto's heart jumped when he saw the other boy alive. 'Great, now where's Konohamaru.'

Konohamaru walked out of the doorway next, with his head downcast and his arms bound in front of him with handcuffs. He was weak, looking as if he could barely stand. "Bastard..."

Orochimaru rubbed his head with a smile on his face "Heh." Orochimaru only shook his head and walked past him, stopping only to dig out an ID Card. Konohamaru glanced back at him, watching him carefully, the first thing he spotted was something slipping out of his pocket unnoticed by Orochimaru. He still didn't realize it as he walked away with card in his hand, it was a clear plastic case the size of a disk, black padding surrounding a small chip with a the letters R.O.M printing on it in small white letters.

Konohamaru steeped back and knelt to the ground to pick it up before shoving it inside his scarf tied around his neck. Still unnoticed by Kabuto or Sasuke thanks to Itachi's training.

Orochimaru didn't even make it to the door before the anticipation grew too much for Naruto, he figured Orochimaru and Kabuto were unarmed and he had a machine gun, he had good chances. With that in mind Naruto jumped over the machinery he'd been using as cover, "Sasuke!"

The 3 of them looked over at him. "Sasuke! Come on we have to get out of here now!" Naruto called out, holding the gun towards Orochimaru.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, he really didn't have time for this, he had things he need to retrieve, more so make sure that things couldn't be retrieved by Itachi if he was still in the building. Orochimaru continued walking "Sasuke, take care of him."

Sasuke sighed and pushed Konohamaru into the Helicopter with Kabuto, He knew exactly how crafty Konohamaru could be with out constant supervision, even if he was growing weaker by the second. "No."

"What?" Naruto looked at him questioningly, "What are you doing! Let's get out of here!"

"Naruto...You were never very smart were you." Sasuke said, no change came to his voice or facial expression when he spoke, it was unnerving. "I can't believe I keep forgetting that."

Naruto's confusion changed in to confusion driven anger, he still didn't know what was going on, or some part of him dismissed what Sasuke may have meant. Ether way it still made him mad when Sasuke said things like that. "Sasuke!" He yelled "Damnit Come on you bastard, we don't have time for this!"

Sasuke looked away in that arrogant way that always make Naruto even madder "I'm not going with you and neither is Konohamaru, so just save your self an ass kicking and get out of here."

Naruto looked at him silently for a moment, he was starting to understand what was happening...'No, there's no way in hell that' "Sasuke? No...There's no way your"

"Yes you idiot, I hate always waiting for you to figure out things." Sasuke said, nearly shouting as he did so. He was looking directly at Naruto now, watching his face contort in anger and his fist clinch so tightly that his arms shook.

"What did Orochimaru do to you..."

"Nothing dobe." Sasuke snorted, pulling his hands out of his pocket while slowly walking through the loud winds being generated toward Naruto. "You don't seem to realize it."

Naruto clinched his eyes and shook his head "No! Your not going to do this! I wont let you! " Naruto was cut off by a sharp punch to the side of his face, sending him falling back on to the ground.

"You just don't get it do you Naruto." Sasuke quickly began closing the gap between them.

Naruto climbed on to his feet, "No, I don't get it!" His hand sub-consciously raised up to his cheek, gently rubbing the spot where he'd been hit. "But I'm not going to let you go with Orochimaru!" Naruto sprang at Sasuke, punching him across his face with enough force to send them both falling back. Naruto quickly took advantage and pinned the other boy down.

"And then what Naruto?" Sasuke smirked as if none of this was even happening, or none of it really mattered to him. "Your so naive, Did you think I was just going to keeping going on with you and Konohamaru? I told him this...so I'll tell you...DON'T BOTHER ME ANYMORE.."

"Damnit I thought we were friends!" Naruto growled.

"Friends? Is saying that suppose to make me stronger? What is that suppose to mean to me?" Sasuke slipped his wrist out of Naruto's grasp, using it to push him back while he drove his knee upward into Naruto's stomach followed by a swift kick with his other leg. Naruto's light body was knocked off of Sasuke and he landed on to his back "Why such the grim look dumb ass?"

Naruto rolled to the side and push himself off of the ground, Sasuke lifted his foot and stomped it down on to Naruto's back. But Naruto moved to the side, grabbing his leg and sending a punch to his stomach. "Stronger? You think Orochimaru is going to help you for free and nothing's going to happen! He's just using you! You might not come back, you might get killed! I can't let you go to a place like that!"

"I don't care..." Sasuke reached upward and grabbed Naruto by the back of his head then pulled him down and slammed his face into his rising fist, Naruto stumbled backwards a few steps, clinching his face with both hands. "And I can't help it if your going to get in the way."

"Why Sasuke?" Naruto felt his eyes burying slightly, he squinted and refused to let anything surface from them. "Why Damnit! What made you like this!"

"What dose any of this have to do with you?" Sasuke's face still was as calm as ever, this wasn't even phasing him... "I have my own path, I won't let anyone lead me any other way...No matter who it is." He said, once again giving off his cold and confident persona that he always gave. Naruto never thought he'd be on the receiving end "Let me make this clear to you. My childish games with you leafs are over. GO HOME!"

'Home...? It'll never be home unless you...' Naruto shook his head feverishly "I wont let you go to Orochimaru, even if I have to bring you back by force!" Naruto shouted, charging at Sasuke furiously with his arm drawn back about to strike. Sasuke stepped back and turned to the side, driveling a well placed kick to Naruto's chin that was more then enough to send his body arching backwards. Sasuke gave him another sharp kick to the stomach and knocked him backwards in to the air.

Naruto flipped on to his hands and sprang gracefully on to his feet, immediately running at Sasuke and then driving his shoulder into the boy's face and hamming him to the ground. "I'm awake now." He said, lifting the back of his hands to wipe away a small amount of blood dripping from his mouth.

"Yeah." Sasuke placed his hands behind him and pushed himself up "I've been awake for a long time now." He moved his foot back and lifted himself into a standing position faster then Naruto expected him to get up. Sasuke thrust his right hand forward and grabbed Naruto by the neck, easily able to lift him into the air with his strength. "Going around being an idiot with you guys, a future like that...I would be a dreaming fool."

Sasuke tossed Naruto into the air and gave him another kick to the chest, watching his body sprawl outwards into the air then drop heavily on to the ground. "That's why I'm doing this! That's why a sought power! My dreams aren't in the future." Sasuke moved towards Naruto again as the other boy watched him with an intense glare. 'Itachi...' "My dreams are in the past."

"...Your actually serous about this." Naruto glanced back at the military helicopter behind him, the propellers still generating a loud wind that tore across his face and through his hair. Throwing the yellow strands in different directions, even over his face at times. "Damnit."

"Yeah I'm serous, I intend to kill you." Sasuke said, Naruto couldn't see how Sasuke could say that so easily as if everything they'd done, everything they'd been through together, everything they were...never even existed.

"So you don't consider me even a friend!" Naruto shouted "Was everything all of us did together a meaningless?"

"No it wasn't meaningless." Sasuke shook his head "Through all that... You have become the most precious thing to me."

! - ! - !

Kakashi kicked open the door to the stairwell, running out on to the roof of tower 2.

"...Damnit... they're not here..." He sighed, looking over the bare surface of the building's peek, '!'

It wasn't completely empty.

In the very center there was an unmistakable square object that it was hard for him to miss or dismiss with all of his training. Kakashi immediately ran over to it, finding a steel box... he quickly opened it, finding exactly what he thought it was. There was a timer flashing 1 minute and counting down with a few buttons under the screen a 4 visible wires of red, blue, green and yellow.

A bomb.

Not an ordinarily one, by the look of the small antenna on the side it could be detonated remotely, but seeing securely it was built and the fact that there was a separate power scorch to boost the signal, it was wirelessly connected into a lot of explosives. Kakashi lifted the bomb out of the case just enough to look under it, finding 6 pounds of C4 laying under it. But it was most likely tied into a detonator someplace on a lower floor or at the bottom of the tower where more explosives undoubtedly lay. And Kakashi could see that these 4 visible wires were obviously dummies. 'Who...set this up? Naruto, Sasuke and Konohamaru may still be here...if this goes off...'

Kakashi reached under the EDO bomb suit he wore, right against his chest his tools were hidden. He retrieved a small screwdriver like device with a sharp, needle point head, then he pulled his collar down just enough to reveal his other eye. Scanning over the bomb inside the case carefully, he drove it into the small hole where one of the wires went inside of the device and pried it open slowly. And just as he expected there were sensors mounted around the inside edges of the bomb, if he would have tried to open it from one of the visible cracks it would have went off. Who ever set this up was apparently an expert.

Kakashi really started too wonder who could have made something up this advance with out Orochimaru knowing, There were cameras everywhere, and it'd had already been on for 10 minutes before he'd arrived.

Kakashi shifted along the tangled wires, following their paths with his eyes. It was simple for him to see what lead to what even with all of the buffers and routers, and all of them seemed to do something vital. Meaning if he cut one, the C4 under the case went off and he failed. "Come on...there must be a way to..." Kakashi's eyes followed a golden strand of an IDE type cable that lead down to a small box, the power supply.

'Cut the detonator output signal, let the power supply keep sending out the signal. No breaks in the normal connection signal, no possibility for the detonation signal, no detonation.' Now all he had to do was find it with in the next 20 seconds.

..., ..., ...,There it was, blue wire connected to a red light that ran a black wire to the power supply and directly into a chip in front of the antenna. Kakashi shook all thoughts of doubt, which wasn't easy since this wasn't a normal bomb, then took a deep breath as he cut the wire..., no immediate detonation...but the timer was still going, there was no way to stop that without setting it off.

Only the person who had the remote control could stop that. "Damnit!"

3,...2,...1...!

The C4 inside was set off, sending Kakashi flying backwards in a rush of flames that engulf his body. His eyes widened as he crossed his arms over the exposed part of his hair and face, surrounded by in intense heat that seemed to carry a strength of it's own, enough to expel him from the pillar of up rising fire and smoke, carrying him at least 10 feet until he finally feet his back hit the ground.

Kakashi coughed as he rolled on to his stomach, expelling as much smoke as he could from his lungs. His hand immediately clinched his chest, the impact did more damage then he expected and would most likely leave some busing. Once again his suit had saved him from incineration, though his body still burned and was smoldering a little. He hadn't heard more explosions...nothing following meant he'd succeed in disabling the bomb, though he didn't have time to disconnect the C4 in the case with obvious results. 'Damnit...I could have done that faster...what happened?'

Kakashi immediately looked toward the stairway door that had just been kicked open by someone in a hurry. A man dressed in a black tank top and black pants, an old forehead protector tied around his head only it was turned so that the plate, baring the insignia of the mist, was over his left ear and the tied straps hung just in front of his right. It was old, apparently excavated some place in the ancient storm's path, but it had been restored nicely considering the material it was made out of no longer existed.

The protector held back wild black hair that extended upward and outward generally in one direction. Around his mouth was a white cloth that covered up to his nose and stopped just short of cold, black eyes. The man stopped, a remote clinched in hand slowly loosened and fell to the ground. "You...disarmed my bomb...?"

"Mostly." Kakashi said in his usual manner as he climbed on to his feet, shaking off any remaining disorientedness.

"That was a complicated set up, and yet you still were able to see through the traps..." The man slowly walked toward Kakashi curiously "Humph, who are you."

"Nobody in particular, but people seemed to call me Hatake Kakashi." Kakashi said, "And who might you be?"

"Zabuza."

"What, no last name?"

Zabuza just shook his head, he wasn't going to tell Kakashi everything, he was curious to why he'd told him anything. Well, he'd been skilled enough to take down the bomb offline, Kakashi disserved that much. "That bomb was important." He said fiercely, he'd gotten close enough to stand face to face with Kakashi now. "I needed it." Zabuza's eyes narrowed, it was enough to alert Kakashi and he immediately stepped back just as Zabuza threw a punch at him.

"I couldn't let it go off, see there's a few friends of mine that maybe here, it'd ruin my whole day if they blew up." Kakashi took another step backwards out of the way of another one of Zabuza's punches and then moved forward quickly, punching him in the stomach.

"So your with Orochimaru?" Zabuza grabbed Kakashi's arm before he could draw it back, then he pulled him in, thrusting his elbow forward as he did so and driving it at Kakashi.

"Nope." Kakashi ducked under Zabuza's elbow and wrapped his free arm around Zabuza's waist. "The opposite actually." Kakashi attempted to lifted Zabuza by his waist, but Zabuza was pushing him down by his arm. In the end they were completely deadlock, in a equal strength that inhibited movement. If either one reduced they're resistance then they'd be at the mercy at the other, Kakashi would be forced down on to the ground in what ever submissive position Zabuza's mind could image, and the Zabuza would be thrown into the air and slammed however Kakashi thought it'd be more painful to do so.

"Konoha?" Zabuza asked

Kakashi shrugged. "Is there any other?"

"Then why are you stopping me?"

"I'm not really, I told you, I have some friends that may be here..."

"Then why are we fighting?" Zabuza pushed his foot forward, gaining just enough ground to drive his knee up into Kakashi's stomach and knock him a step back or two. He thought he'd be able to push Kakashi down now since he still held him, but Kakashi quickly countered by thrusting his shoulder into Zabuza's torso. Both were forced to release the other, and each quickly jumped back out of range.

"Giving up already? Your no fun." Kakashi pouted mockingly.

Zabuza looked at him for a moment, he hadn't even known him more then a few moments and he was already confused by his actions. Finally he just shook his head "No, not really." Zabuza ran the few feet towards Kakashi again, drawing his arm back to strike as he moved. Kakashi moved to the side a little and threw a punch of his own to catch Zabuza, just as Zabuza had expected. Zabuza pushed Kakashi's fist away, steeping to Kakashi's side spinning around and stopping directly behind Kakashi. "Just getting started." Zabuza wrapped his arm around Kakashi's neck and pulled back sharply.

Kakashi pushed forward strongly enough to drag Zabuza, he tried to flip the other man off of him but Zabuza was heavier then he expected and he could only do so partially. Zabuza ended up on his back with Kakashi on top of him, his arm still wrapped around his neck. "Nice job." Zabuza snorted.

"Funny." Kakashi's voice was strained thanks to the pressure on his neck, "It work out better in my head. Oh well, plan B." Kakashi drove his elbow back into Zabuza's side and rolled, breaking free of Zabuza's hold.

Kakashi sprang to his feet just as Zabuza did, equal in speed and strength. Zabuza lifted his foot and drove it towards Kakashi's face, Kakashi lifted his arm and blocked, holding Zabuza's leg in place on top of his lifted elbow and punching the area just above his knee. Zabuza grunted in pain and tried to pull away but Kakashi twisted his leg and pushing him to the ground before he could.

Kakashi slammed Zabuza face first into the ground, stomping down on to Zabuza's back. Zabuza rolled over and sent a kick into Kakashi's stomach. Then he jumped on to his feet and punched Kakashi in his chest. Fighting the urge to keel over, Kakashi countered with another punch in the same area. Then both Kakashi and Zabuza drew back and sent punches at each over, but there natural defensive nature kicked in and both reached to counter the other while still attacking.

The end result was that each held each other by the fist... "Not bad, Hatake Kakashi." Zabuza said, pushing against Kakashi with as much grip as he could mange to get.

"Not so bad yourself Zabuza." Kakashi said with a small smirk, placing his foot back and driving forward. "Why do you want to bomb Orochimaru."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious."

The other man was silent for a moment, debating weather he wanted to give Kakashi the satisfaction of knowing anything about him. "He...took someone very important to me. And I was about to be done with this..." Zabuza's voice was starting to feel a light strain, he was expending his strength faster then he'd thought, this fight was harder then he'd ever admit. "Until you came."

"Oops...Sorry about that. But your probably making a mistake." Kakashi told him. "You see there's a running helicopter on the next tower, so I'm assuming that's where Orochimaru is."

Zabuza's eye's shifted past Kakashi for a moment, then reconnected with Kakashi's eyes again. He growled in annoyance. "Damnit!"

"Don't feel to bad, I think I made the same mistake..." Kakashi felt himself sliding backwards slightly, he started pushing himself forward again to regain the lost ground.

"Your an interesting one Kakashi..." Zabuza attempted to slip his captured fist from Kakashi's grip but it was too strong, "Too bad I don't have time to play with you any longer."

"Play?"

Zabuza flipped backwards, giving Kakashi a tight kick to the chin, Kakashi couldn't help but let go and stumble backwards. Though Zabuza's mouth was covered, Kakashi could tell he was smirking as the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a second remote. "You were able to disable my bomb, I'll have to try something a little more fool proof."

'I think he just insulted me...' Kakashi said, watching Zabuza hold his arm toward the second tower. Then he finally realized what Zabuza was doing, "NO!" Kakashi yelled running directly at Zabuza while the other man pushed a few buttons on the remote. It seemed Zabuza thought he'd have it working by now because Kakashi was able to rush him, knocking the remote out of his hand and sending both of them tumbling along the ground with lost momentum.

The two ended up at the south edge of the roof near the stairs, the remote control slid a few feet ahead, stopping halfway overboard so closely that the slightest breeze could knock it off. Zabuza scrambled along the ground, diving towards it as Kakashi went after him again. Kakashi grabbed Zabuza's wrist, but Zabuza fought so hard that his hand still reached the remote. Only his finger tips couldn't get far enough to grip the deceive and ended up pushing it over in his attempt.

"!" Zabuza drove his knee into Kakashi's mouth strong enough to force him to let go, then he pushed himself off of the ground and dived over the edge after it.

"?" Before he had time to think of what he was doing past the thought that Zabuza could still take out the second tower, Kakashi dived overboard after him.

It seemed as they're bodies left the ground, rain push it's way out of the night clouds, falling on to the them in a quickly growing torrent. That would be a problem.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed from the wind being driven into them, feeling the stomach twisting feeling of free falling from extreme heights. He reached forward and grabbed on to Zabuza's leg just as the 19th floor rolled past them. Zabuza had the remote by the 18th and was able to grab on to the frame of the broken window on the 17th, the same Kakashi had used to get into the building. And the floor the skyway used to be mounted on, where Zabuza had easily taken down 6 of Orochimaru's guards, right before Naruto got there.

But just as he was tightening his grip, the weight of Kakashi who was still holding his leg pulled his hand away, both of them were starting falling again.

It was almost dizzying watching the stories rush past them in a strange bur, Kakashi's eyes were quick enough though to spot the next ledge and grab a hold of it, bringing his body to a sudden halt. There was a small downward pull for a few seconds as the rest of him slowed to a stop, that alone almost made him fall again.

Zabuza saw Kakashi reaching out and he did the same himself, grabbing on to the protruding piece of land catching himself a few feet away from the other on the 12th floor. Unfortunately this floor lacked windows, any of which were on the other side of the tower. The sudden and hard rain made the ledge slippery and wet, it was hard to hold on let alone for the two to pull the selves up with out losing their hold and falling again. "You nearly got us both killed!" Zabuza growled angrily.

"You can't do that! Those friends of mine are over there." Kakashi ran with amazing agility across the ledge, no wider then his foot, at Zabuza. He grabbed him by his shoulder and tucked his arm over the one Zabuza was holding the remote with. He apply as much pressure as he could to make him drop it but with no successes.

Zabuza tilled his head back and slammed it into Kakashi's, Kakashi nearly fell backwards but his tight grip on Zabuza prevented him from doing so. "You!" Zabuza sent another headbutt at Kakashi, this time making him fall. Kakashi's grip on the other man failed completely and his body was sent tumbling on back on to the lead. He reached upward and grabbed on to a small patch of protruding bricks above, just barely keeping himself from hitting the thin ground.

In a very risky move, Kakashi pulled himself up and jumped in to the air, drawing both of his knees back to his chest completely and then thrusting them at Zabuza in a powerful kick. Zabuza wasn't fast enough to avoid or block, it stuck him directly in mouth with enough force to not only knock him off his feet but causing his body to involuntary backflip.

Zabuza fell painfully on to his stomach, his face smashing into the ground and his body bouncing off of the concrete ledge and falling over...but before he realized it Kakashi had both of his hands wrapped around his wrist, the same one he held the remote in. "Kakashi! Your getting in the way!" Zabuza yelled, panting both of his feet on to the wall and kicking off with all of his strength. Instead of pulling Kakashi down and himself down, Zabuza unexpectedly flipped upward, both of his feet landing back on to the ledge.

"No way, that's cheating." Kakashi said, holding out a lazy and accusing finger at Zabuza.

Zabuza looked at him, he was still unable to believe Kakashi was able to joke around even now. His behavior was questionably amusing, not just his words but his actions and his expressions, all of that was amplified in an ironic way by their situation, they were practically fighting to the death and Kakashi was saying that he was cheating. He almost laughed, but he settled for a shake of his head and a hidden smirk "..."

"You can't blow that tower...at least not yet." Kakashi told him. "At lest let me find them first."

Zabuza looked down at the remote in his hand, then over at the tower where the distant form of a helicopter could be seen. It immediately filled his mind with thoughts of Orochimaru...and Haku...

Kakashi rested his hands on his waist. "Zabuza huh, let me guess, your from the Mist century?"

"How perceptive." Zabuza snorted sarcastically.

"Yeah, that's me alright."

"You know I could still blow this tower up just for the hell of it." Zabuza said.

"No you wont, waste of explosives." Kakashi said, "So Mr. Zabuza No last name. Going to let me see what's behind the mask?" He said teasingly, some how he didn't feel threatened by Zabuza. Maybe it was because Zabuza hadn't blown him up yet, or the fact that he didn't seem like he was taking this seriously.

Zabuza glared at him, "What the hell kind of question is that! You don't even know me."

"What are you hiding, makes me wonder." Kakashi folded his arms and looked upward in thought.

"What about you?" Zabuza said, "What are you hide" He stopped and shook his head, Kakashi was making him lose focus "That's not the point! I'm."

Kakashi spoke again before Zabuza could finish. "Dose the Mist know what your doing?"

"They don't need to know."

"Oh...I get it now." Kakashi said.

"Here." Zabuza tossed him the remote.

Kakashi was caught off guard, he almost dropped the spare remote "Zabuza?"

"It's already set, just push the red button at the bottom." Zabuza turned away, shoving his hands into his pockets and walking with ease along the thin strip of land towards the edge "See you around Kakashi." He said, stepping casually over the edge and falling over the 12 story height. "Next time I'll have to use something more advanced.

"Hey! Zabuza Wait!" Kakashi ran to the edge, nearly falling in haste to look over. "Zabuza...?" He called out, there was nothing three, no trace of him except for the wet footsteps he'd left behind on the soaked ground. Kakashi glanced at the detonator Zabuza gave to him '...I think I like him. He wasn't _that_ bad.'

!- ! - !

"Well then why are you doing this?" Naruto asked. He lifted is forearm over his eyes, to shield from the rain being thrown in his face from the Helicopter's propellers.

"We have a strong bond." Sasuke said, "By severing those strong bonds I'll gain more strength."

"I can't believe you...would do this."

"That's it, no more talking. This is it Naruto, this is the end."

Naruto looked at him for a moment, 'Stop thinking, Just stop thinking...It shouldn't be too hard, he always called me an idiot anyway...and a dobe...that bastard... I can't believe he did this too me.' Naruto his head, pushing pack more tears that threatened to come forth, he couldn't cry now, not now.

! - ! - !

"Hello? Can anyone here me?"

_Static...static "Hestaticlo! Are you still there? Static Do you read me?"  
_

"I needStatic"

"Is this?"

"General Static Static AzuStaticma! It'sStatic"

"W-where are you!"

"Sound CountryStatic"

"Sound Country?" Azuma shouted over the radio. "How the hellstatic"

"I don't know how much longer Static m-my signal can Static hold Static"

"Give me your coordinates."

Static Static "32E, 62S"

"That's...That's Orochimaru's Static static How did you get out there!"

"My signal's static fading! Static I need Static"

"Iruka! Can you hear me? Are you still there! Damnit!" Azuma yelled. "If you can still hear me, hold on I'm on my way."


	11. Chapter 11: Of Allies and Enemies, The S...

Chapter 11: Of Allies and Enemies, The Sound finale.

Of Allies and Enemies... who is really who ?

"Yeah your right, it is the end..." Naruto said.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

_Konohamaru lay stretched out on the back seat with one leg hanging off. Brown eyes drifted to the sky, watching the clouds of a blue sky begin to darken into shades of orange from an approaching sun set. He had to admit, they'd only been gone for a few hours and he was already feeling better._

_Relaxed, and with pent up anger subsiding, Konohamaru was able to let himself start to drift off to sleep. "Sasuke?" He called out sleepily with his eyes falling closed._

"_Huh?" Sasuke easily could look back because the road was empty, there was no way he'd hit anything._

"_Where are we going?" _

_Sasuke looked over at Naruto, he'd fallen asleep a few minutes ago…he never looked so clam and peaceful. "No where in particular, but if you really want to know here's a map." Sasuke reached down in-between his seat for a folded up map, tossing it back to Konohamaru._

_The boy let it land on his chest with no attempt to catch it "Doesn't matter I guess." he left the map there, finally drifting off to sleep._

_Sasuke looked back at him and smiled, a small one that was barely visible but there none the less. Turning back he watched the road roll past them, it didn't really mater where they were going, as long as they stopped for something to eat. He was pretty sure that when Naruto woke up he'd be hungry, the boy was an endless pit._

_At lest he was happy._

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Naruto pushed any other thoughts away as he ran towards Sasuke, but he started to notice everything else in an exaggerated manner reminiscing to a person who was reviewing their life when they were seconds away from death. Time seemed to slow in the same manner, it was as if Naruto's mind had started processing his sense's much faster then they could transfer what was around him. He now knew how people could go over years in a matter of seconds before they met their end.

The hard rain jabbed him with countless drops, each one warm and soothing. The wind from the slowly rotating blades of the duel propeller helicopter on the other side of the roof scattered the rain in a swirl of air currents, making it appear more violent then it actually was, Naruto could even see the white streaks of the air currents They swirled around like a whirlpool that scattered the winds downward and outward at the same time.

His eyes, the only thing that was able to keep up with his head's pace, looked towards Sasuke. Those black eyes that hid a deep red with in them almost as if holding a black veil over his Sharingan blood line. The wet, pale skin that was held perfectly over tensed muscles, the way the black button-up shirt lay over firmly his torso and hung perfectly over his black pants. And the way the strands of raven hair hung loosely over his concentrated face. 'God he is cute...why did he have to do this to me...'

Everything returned to normal speed and Naruto found himself running head on at Sasuke again. Abandoning all thought for good and with complete focus he punched the other boy across his cheek and forcing him to stumble to the side, Sasuke reached over and grabbed Naruto's arm. With his natural speed he pulled Naruto in while he thrust his elbow in to his chest, and then pulled Naruto's arm behind his neck and tossed him over his shoulder. Naruto hit the ground with a loud and wet thump, immediately squinting from the water falling into his eyes, he ignored it and drove his foot upwards into Sasuke's chest hard enough to knock him backwards.

Naruto rolled on to his side and up to his knees, sweeping his foot across the ground and kicking Sasuke off of his feet. Naruto immediately sprang on top of him, grabbing him by his collar and throwing a furry of punches at him. He struck repeatedly and repeatedly, and somehow through all of that Naruto started to zone out...

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

_Inside the small building his eyes were greeted by the sight of endless waves of junk food the on shelves. "Well…I'm kind of hungry." Naruto said to himself, looking down at his stomach. With a wide smile he walked through the rows of shelves, mentally dividing how much money he'd need to fill up the tank. It left a lot of room for snacks._

_Naruto grabbed a few bags of chips, moving down the row picking out some assorted candy. Including but not limited to Skittles, Starburst and M&Ms... until he reached the one item that made him nearly dropped it all when he saw the Instant Ramen, there was a string on top, it was designed so that all someone had to do was it and the Ramen became hot and ready to eat in a few minutes. _

_His smile growing wider, Naruto grabbed about 10 or however many he could hold at once then dumped it all on the counter in front of Casher. A young woman with long brown hair down to her shoulders and a blue apron looked down at him in awe, "Now what is a cute little kid like you doing in some place like this so late?" She asked in a friendly voice._

_Naruto never thought he'd hear something like that from anyone, it would have never happened in Konoha. This whole trip was almost worth that small statement. Naruto rubbed the back of his head "Taking a Roadtrip."_

"_Is that why your buying all of this junk?" She said with a humorous tone as she rang up the items. "If your not careful you'll rot your teeth out." _

_Naruto couldn't help but think of how she reminded him of Iruka and how he always looked after him in this manner. "I'm not going to eat all of it by my self…well maybe the ramen." _

"_I'd keep the ramen to my self too…but it's good to hear your not out here alone, I wouldn't want something to happen to someone as adorable as you." The woman smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair lightly. _

"_Huh? Really?" he was still a little confused at this..._

"_Of course. I don't want you to get hurt, and things can get dangerous." _

_Naruto blushed and paid her the money for the food along with the gas. It was a struggle to hold it all at once by he managed. "See ya." Naruto called as he walked out side._

"_Bye kid, stay safe." The woman gave a small wave and returned to her duties._

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Sasuke grabbed the back of Naruto's head and gave him a swift headbutt that knocked Naruto off of him off of his body and made him fall back involuntarily to the ground. "Pay attention Dobe!" Sasuke shouted, standing up before he ran and Naruto and drove a swift kick into his stomach.

Naruto let out a loud grunt as he felt the wind being knocked out of him, he gasped, coughing out the water he'd inhaled as he did so. "What do you care if I pay attention or not?" From the ground Naruto dived at him, latching on to Sasuke from the waist and taking him down to the ground. He immediately grabbed the assault riffle strapped around his neck and pointed it towards Sasuke, only to find a handgun pressed against his heart. "It's just making it easier for you to kill me. That's what you want right!"

Both of them were in a stalemate, unable to do anything from fear that it would finch and pull the trigger... "You always though I was stupid anyway, lower then you, weaker..." Naruto growled.

"I will acknowledge that you aren't weak, your one of the strongest people I know, we are equal." Sasuke shifted slightly, quickly bringing his arm to the barrel of Naruto's gun and snatching it away, but while he was doing that Naruto was taking the same course of action and pulled the handgun from Sasuke. Both of them tossed the weapons away, knowing they wouldn't have time to turn them and use them.

Sasuke flipped backwards, kicking Naruto in the chin as he did so. He gracefully came to his feet, leaning back and throwing another kick at the other boy, Naruto grabbed him by the leg and pulled him sharply. Picking Sasuke up painfully by the extremity as he fell backwards, he slammed him on the ground with a splash and a thump. Sasuke pulled away, kicking Naruto off with his other leg and stumbling forward. His hand immediately reached for his mouth where blood was streaming out from someplace inward, this was as hard as he expected it to be.

Naruto's fighting style was so unpredictable, it wasn't nearly as organized as Sasuke's.

Sasuke and Naruto quickly stood once more, watching each other again, panting slightly. Naruto again ran headstrong at Sasuke, his mind still blocking out all thought of Sasuke or anything that may distract him. "You bastard, I can't believe you just forsaken everything! Just that easily." Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the shoulders as jumped, driving his knee into the other's face and then driving both feet into Sasuke's chest to kick him as he flipped off of him.

Sasuke faltered, barely stopping himself from falling, "You sentential fool." Sasuke reached forward with one hand and caught Naruto's fist in mid-throw, Then he thrust his fist in to Naruto's forcibly extended arm. A small crack could be heard and Naruto immediately drew back and loudly hissed in pain. "I hate you."

Naruto's eyes widened and he pulled his now limp and fractured arm back, a shocked expression came over his rain soaked face. For that moment he didn't feel the intense pain of a fractured or possibly broken arm "Take that back!"

"Make me!" Sasuke took advantage of the frozen Naruto, throwing another strong punch at him.

Naruto steeped to the side and out of the way so that he was side by side with the other boy, then he sent a devastating kick to the side of his head. "You liar! You can't tell me you honestly hate me! This was as much for me as it was for you, you needed me just like I needed you!"

Sasuke's body was sent flying sideways, a splash of water shooting up when he hit the ground. He was immediately pelted with the full force of the rain that washed down a stream of blood from a wound opened from Naruto's blow. "I didn't need you." he said with the small hint of pain in his voice.

Naruto's anger grew even stronger, his whole body was shaking now. "You..." Sasuke was right, the time for talking was over. Naruto clinched his left arm, that was needless to say out of the fight, but Naruto wasn't. He jumped in to the air and kicked Sasuke again as other tried to get up. Sasuke took the blow, and countered by driving his fist into Naruto's stomach with a powerful upper cut.

Naruto was knocked back on to the ground, clinching his stomach with his only working arm while the other fell to the ground painfully. The rain seemed to make it sting as it struck the damaged limb, leaving behind a throbbing feeling that still resided by the time he got off the ground. He looked back as brought himself to stand again, he hadn't notice how close he'd gotten to it. Now it was only about 2 feet at the most from the north side. That had been his mistake.

That second he'd taken to look back, had been what Sasuke needed. Naruto turned ahead only to see a fist connected right with his jaw. Naruto stumbled backwards, but quickly grabbed Sasuke by the collar and then by the neck. Sasuke nearly fell from the sudden weight and Naruto was barely keeping himself from going over the edge. "Let go of me!" Sasuke shouted, drawing his arm back and punching Naruto in the face, then once more, and then continued repeatedly as he tried to make him let go.

Naruto still kept his increasingly tightening grip "Not a chance in hell!" Naruto yelled, thrusting his head forward and giving Sasuke a sharp headbutt, which was more then enough to make Sasuke lose balance. He placed one foot forward, but found that Naruto was gaining power on him though he was only using one hand. Naruto pulled Sasuke's head under his arm, bringing half of his body over the edge, farther then he wanted to be.

It was a battle of strength, and Sasuke was loosening.

"Naruto...I, I love you."

Naruto froze at the words, quickly feeling his blood turn cold and chills running up his spine. Before he could say anything in reply, Sasuke pushed forward and sent both of them tumbling over the edge of the 20 story tower...

Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the injured arm, making him scream out in pain and lose his grip on Sasuke just before he fell. Sasuke was able to jump backwards and let Naruto fall on his own...but not with out Naruto reaching up with on last pull of will and grabbing hold of Sasuke's head, pulling his whole body down to the ground and smashing his head in to the edge of the roof before he lost his grip and fell.

Sasuke was left laying face down on the edge of the building, a large gash over his forehead and a dizzy, disoriented feeling from Naruto's final, desperate and failed attack. "Hhh..." Sasuke picked himself up, watching blood stream down his face, Naruto was really gone, he had really fallen over.

Orochimaru's voice called out to him from the back of the helicopter across the roof. "Sasuke! Let's go, now!" Apparently Orochimaru had returned from what ever business he'd attended too and Kabuto was ready to go. He could already hear a subtle change in the helicopter's engine...

"Goodbye...Naruto." Sasuke ignored his pain for the moment as he turned from the edge and walked towards the duel rotor propeller aircraft.

Silently he entered it and watched as the hatched closed behind him...

"I'M NOT DONE YET!"

The sound of a second aircraft could be heard from the north side of the tower, and slowly Naruto rose. Panting heavily, his hair plastered to his head just above his eyes, clinching his injured arm and limping heavily from the fall as he stood on the wing of a blue jet, just above the numbers 4477. He looked in visible pain.

Just under both wings and from one of the engines in the back, a thick cloud of black smoke was billowing from the damaged it'd suffered before. It was truly on it's last leg, barely flying and could collapse at any moment. In-spite of that Iruka's plain rose to roof level, and with the smoke rising over the windshield directly the pilot couldn't even see Naruto let alone know he was there. Naruto knew that much, but he also knew there were two handles on the top of Iruka's wing for some unknown purpose. So he knelt down, holding one them with his able hand and hooking his foot under the other.

The rain wasn't making this easy, and in-spite of the trouble Iruka was having Kabuto's duel propeller helicopter rose easily through the wet air. Iruka had nothing but fully manual, unCPU-assisted piloting and radio reduced so much in range and quality it wasn't worth mentioning. And on top of that were his injures, he wasn't sure how bad and of what nature but blood was streaming out of a whole on his left side, flowing in a lot less volume from his right leg and a large gash on the back of his neck. He wasn't going to give up though, he lifted the aircraft in to the air and followed after Kabuto, it took nearly all of his strength to keep the jet from falling to the side and crashing.

"Kabuto..." Iruka scowled, his voice strained from the pain that came with each movement. With little visibility he piloted the aircraft toward the helicopter, just as it lifted over the clouds.

Naruto struggled to hold on from the turbulence that came from flying through the clouds that carried the storm. It was freezing cold inside, and felt as if a wave of water had just smashed into him, it was almost enough to make him lose his grip. But with a loud grunt he held on, sighing in relief as they rose above into the crystal clear night sky, coming into a sea of bright stars and shining moon. Normally he would have appreciated this view...'...' Naruto looked around him, it _was_ a breath taking sight, he found himself taking a deep breath, taking in all of the view before returning to focus on the helicopter Iruka was gaining on.

With out hesitation Iruka opened fire with the duel Glatting guns under each wing, his last 2 missiles dropped from under the plane's body as it passed over the aircraft, connecting directly in the center.

! - ! - !

"We're under attack." Kabuto called out in surprise, diligently shifting controls to minimize damage and add defense as well as evasion.

Orochimaru took the seat next to Kabuto in the cockpit. "By who!"

"...I don't believe it! He can't be alive." Kabuto said in disbelief as he watched a smoldering blue aircraft descend in front of them. "It's Iruka..."

Konohamaru's attention immediately peeked from the front of the front of the hold, just behind the door to the cockpit. He looked over at Sasuke, sitting across from him with his arms folded and his head tilted to the air to keep blood from his eyes, shooting an angry him a glare and a small, sarcastic smile.

Sasuke stood up, "Don't get too cocky." He said as he walked in to the cockpit, peering between the pilot and the co-pilot seat. With one look his expression changed from cool and collective to immediate shock. Naruto was on the left wing, looking directly into the cock pit, looking directly at him... 'How...did he...? Naruto.'

"Do something about it then." Orochimaru said in annoyment.

Kabuto pressed a blue button right next to the throttle after performing a long line of process that came before it. "Already on it." He said, though this type of aircraft wasn't built for attacking, Kabuto was more then able to outfit it with a few weapons, if only he could get them working properly.

A large missile, apparently built as a bomb to take down large spread areas and a different purpose completely, dropped from the bottom of the helicopter. Shifting slightly, it streaked forward at Iruka in a radiance of heat and sound. "Damnit!" Iruka tried to turn, or at least fall back since if he just let the ship do a strait drop by cutting the engine he'd never be able to pull out of it, both weren't able to be done fast enough since the ship's speed was severally cut.

Naruto clinched his eyes shut and turned his head away. "Iruka!"

The missile exploded, engulfing the jet with thick flames...Naruto, not finding himself being incinerated, lifted his head to find he come with in an inch of the rushing flames that seemed to glide a few feet over the steel surface and Naruto. "Huh?" Naruto felt a rush of wind, as is something moving extremely fast had passed him, he quickly turned his head in the direction but looked only in time to see the back end of a passing black streak. It quickly slowed though, enough for him to see the unblurred form of a black fighter plane, the body was similar to Iruka's only the wings were shorter and stretched much wider.

It's basic form spoke volumes to Iruka, this wasn't any ordinary plane, and it was helping them.

A voice transmitted on to Iruka's radio, he was amazed that it was still working. "Iruka, you alright?"

"Commander Sarutobi?" Iruka exclaimed in surprised, " You came! Your actually here! You made it all the way here."

"Calm down." Asuma's black aircraft hovered directly over Iruka, the air current emitted from small vets on the bottom pushed down the black smoke radiating from distinct parts that could easily seen in the clear, night sky. "Sorry I'm late, I had to stop and pick someone up."

"?"

Iruka nearly jumped when he heard Kakashi's voice "Iruka, I didn't think you'd make it for a minute there. Oh, and you have some extra weight on your left wing, might want to take a look."

Iruka glanced out of the left side of his windshield, unable to see anything but a blur of orange through fractures in the glass..."Na-Naruto?"

"Where are the others?"

"Th-there inside, I thought Naruto was with them..." Iruka watched the orange form carefully, he was amazed Naruto had held on this long and all of the resistance he'd must have faced...Iruka pulled down a yellow and black striped lever just above him that released the windshield, but it was so weak that it broke off completely and fell down to the ground...not that he cared at the moment. "Naruto!"

Naruto glanced over toward the cockpit, his eyes strained, watery, and red from the wind and smoke being blown at him. "Iruka?" He managed to cough out, shaking away any stray tears as he smirked weakly. "Took you long enough to find me."

"Naruto..." Iruka nearly cried he was so happy, and screamed at him self he was so angry for leaving him out there so long, it took all of his will to resisted hugging Naruto. Naruto crawled along the wing, dragging his left arm as he did so, and into the back seat behind Iruka's. Panting heavily, Naruto grunted and cringed as he strapped himself in, not with out obvious pain from his injuries that plagued him.

Iruka shook his head and sighed, he could only give Naruto a look that told him how sorry he was.

"Ready Iruka?" Asuma asked.

"Yes sir."

"Alright then, just stay low." Asuma told him, "Looks like one more hit and your through..."

Iruka let the ship slowly descend a few feet while Asuma lined up with him, "Naruto, keep your head low." he said, knowing that with no windshield to protect them it would be hard on both of them. With unspoken signals he and Asuma both nodded and accelerated. Both aircrafts shot forward, Iruka sweeping over the right side of the Helicopter with a line of AP ammunition while Asuma released two missiles from the left. One of which exploded in-between the propellers while the other exploded directly in the center.

The helicopter veered to the side, falling slowly...It seemed to break in-half not have much of a defense in the first place which was even weaker on the sides, but this was more of an intentional maneuver. To keep the whole ship from going up it broke into two parts, one for each propeller, witch acted as a parachute.

"Oh man, we actually did it..." Iruka watched in awe for a moment, but he snapped out of it quickly. "I'm going for Sasuke and Konohamaru since they're probably in the back."

"Iruka, you can't"

"Commander Sarutobi, I need you to take my ship."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah."

"...Alright." Asuma reluctantly set the plane on Autopilot, he was able to think of all of the things that could go wrong. Iruka could miss the jump, he could be making a huge mistake, Orochimaru might be there, and Iruka would be way out of his league, even if he was at 100 "Kakashi."

Kakashi waved discardingly "I got it, just go."

Asuma nodded and opened the windshield, without any apprehension he climbed on to the wing, shutting the windshield behind him before running to the tip. He found it easy to keep his cool as he dived overboard from over 20,000 feet, landing comfortably 20 feet later next to Iruka who was standing on the seat now. "Thank you."

Naruto looked to his left where he saw the back half of the helicopter falling slowly past them, this was it "Be careful. Sasuke's not himself...his with that bastard Orochimaru." He said weakly, before closing his eyes and passing out, he was already barely coherent from the fall and it was remarkable he'd stayed awake as long as he did. He get didn't see Iruka run nervously to the edge of the right wing, making the whole ship tilt as Asuma quickly brought it under control. Nor did he see how his injures slowed him down so much, or if Iruka made the jump or not...

! - ! - !

Sasuke grabbed hold of the wall to keep from falling, glancing down at Konohamaru who had been knocked unconscious from the blast and was now laying at his feet. Sasuke was pressed against a shutter that serrated the cockpit and the storage right before they disconnected, 'Damnit...' He growled to himself, it was apparent that this wasn't over the moment he saw Naruto was still alive.

_Thump, clash_

Sasuke looked up, Iruka was standing at the edge of the back hatch, it'd been knocked open from the blast and seemed unable to close now. A suction was created, drawing everything towards it, and the man seemed to be fight against it now. "Iruka."

"Sasuke." Iruka walked towards him, keeping his eyes on Konohamaru the whole time. He was holding his right side with his left arm that had thick gashes up to his bicep. When he walked the damages to his right leg made him limp and slowed him down immensely, even the cut on the back of his neck seem to slow him down. What was strange though was that the cut over his nose had re-opened sometime in his attempt to get over here. "I guess you don't want to come back with me huh?"

Sasuke snorted and took a step forward in front of Konohamaru, unwilling to let Iruka take him. "Get out of here."

Iruka sighed, finding himself quickly pleading with the boy "Sasuke, do you realize what your doing?"

"Do you?"

"Yes, and I'm sure you don't want to here from someone like me, but you have to come back with me." Iruka pleaded "Please just"

Sasuke growled in anger as he took another step towards the approaching Iruka "Damnit, I don't want to hear any more of your Bullshit!"

"Sasuke" Iruka was cut off by a sharp kick to his jaw, he found himself too shocked to realize that he'd fallen from the force. 'He just...' Iruka lifted a hand to his cheek where the blow had come from, his eyes immediately reflecting a hurt much more painful then physical. Sasuke really hit him, with out apprehension or remorse 'He really is...I-I have to stop him...I- I have to don't I?' Iruka shook off the blow as he rose to his feet.

Sasuke was there in a second , taking one step forward and driving his fist upward into Iruka's stomach. "You idiot, I told you to get lost!"

Iruka almost found himself about to hit Sasuke back as a reflexive defense...but he couldn't, he just couldn't do it if he tried. 'No, I'm not fighting him...I'm not going to do it, there's no point!' He said to himself stubbornly, cringing from the sharp pain coursing through him, Sasuke was stronger then he thought. "Stop this Sasuke! I'm not going to fight you." Iruka only stood up strait and looked directly into his eyes, trying to think of something to say.

"You naive fool." Sasuke threw another punch at Iruka's stomach, striking his wounded side more as he drove more and more blows into passive man, each one stronger then the last. The bleeding had slowed over the last few hours, but Sasuke had effectively reopened any thing that had healed or clotted. "Your not my father, so stop trying to be him!"

Iruka grunted in pain, stumbling backwards into the wall, it was imposable to stay rooted in this kind of attack. Sasuke seemed to be hitting harder then before, and Iruka was letting him "I-know that. But Sasuke"

"Your pathetic!" Sasuke scowled, jumping upward and driving his foot into Iruka's face. He's struck hard to splatter blood from the cut on his nose. "You don't have anything so you cling to us, I am not your son you weak idiot, and neither is Naruto!" Sasuke took a step back, getting a small boost of speed before he drew back his arm and drove his fist into Iruka's chest with all of his strength. It was enough to force Iruka to hunch over and fall forward on to his knees, he felt blood flowing out from the inside of his mouth which he expelled in loud coughs.

"Sasuke...Just stop this, please."

"What the hell's wrong with you!" Sasuke yelled, lifting his foot and delivering a swift kick in to Iruka's side, lifting him off the ground slightly before knocking him down completely flat on his stomach. "Fight back damn you!"

"No. You stop."

Sasuke yelled in frustration, only to feel himself start getting weak...and then pass out.

"Kakashi?" Iruka looked up to see the white haired man standing there with Sasuke over one shoulder and Konohamaru over the other. He'd snuck up when they weren't pay attention and knocked the boy out "?"

He was completely serous, more so then Iruka had ever seen him, and he was looking down at Iruka as if he was confused. "Why...didn't you fight back?"

"..." Iruka just stared down at the ground silently as he picked himself up. "Let's... get out of here..."

As if on cue there was a sudden explosion from below that knocked both of them to the ground. "What was that!" Kakashi looked around in confusion as he stood again, scooping up Konohamaru and Sasuke as he did so.

"That came from under us...Orochimaru must be attacking from the ground..."He said, watching rain start to seep into the many openings after they'd falling below the clouds. "If we don't get him off of us, we'll never make it back to the ship alive."

Since Asuma hadn't stopped the attacks it was apparent that he was having problems of his own, especially since he had to manage 2 ships at the same time on his own. They needed to stop Orochimaru, or at least get his attention off of them long enough to get away... 'How are we suppose!' Kakashi slipped his hand in to his pocket, retrieving Zabuza's remote, "Get ready to run."

"What's that?"

"It's about to be one hell of a distraction..." Kakashi ran to the back hatch and peered out of it, his was met by a torrent of rain which had told him that they'd drifted below the clouds again. He looked down, holding himself just out of the doorway with his arm and pointing the remote toward the ground.

The rain made it hard to see anything but white streaks of falling water, his hair hung down in soaked strands, just barely staying out of his muti-colored eyes 'Thank you...Zabuza.'

Kakashi clinched his eyes shut and pushed the button, and almost immediately a white light emitted from below, surround them in a blinding flare and engulfing them in a horribly loud sound.


	12. Chapter 12: Konoha

Chapter 12: Konoha.

! - ! - !

To all of my loyal readers, I just want to stop and say Thank you. Don't worry, I'm not saying this because the story is ending, in fact it's about to become very interesting. And I really want to thank all of those who took the time to review, even if it was one word (Cough LunaCough) And those of you that did more, you guys are what made me write a sequel.

Past Tense is about to get...interesting too, I'll give you a spoiler, skip this part if you don't want to know. (asdkfanosldcowefeKibaturnsintoawarewolfandckelwnalcneekuybi) Did you catch it? If not, just read to find out. Oh and lots of other freaky things happen too, not to say it wont get strange in Future Tense. I'll give you a clue, Naruto. But you wont find out what's going to happen to him for a while.

So thanks, I just wanted to write this because I hit page 100 on this story...104 right now, I hit 100 in the last chapter.

SDI

! - ! - !

White light...He became aware of white light as if it was imprinted into his eyelids, the only thing he'd known before was darkness. One moment he'd been fighting Iruka, the next...Now that Sasuke thought about it, he was the only one fighting that fight. 'W-what happened to me?'

He couldn't feel anything, as if the rest of his body wasn't even there, just this White light and his barely coherent thoughts. In fact nothing he thought about in that moment had reason or logic, not until his senses started to return to him. His mind turned on as soon as he heard voices, and his eyes fought to open instinctively.

Despite his best efforts, the best he could do was to open them so little that he could see only slits. His body didn't seem to be responding to him, as it should. That's when he became aware of the pain , it wasn't too bad but...it effectively kept him from making a sound or movements, except for his barely opened eyes. 'Where...am I?'

"I...don't even know where to begin..."

He knew that voice, it was Sarutobi, the President and Konohamaru's grandfather. He figured he wasn't talking to himself, or to him since he wasn't even sure if he was conscious or not. So most likely everyone was in the same room, he'd figure the hospital since he was in so much pain.

"Well first, I do want to thank you, Iruka, Kakashi, Asuma. All of you deserve to be commended for your actions, and Gai. I'm not sure how you managed to get the word out about the Sound when there was no communication but it was amazing that you did, and you fought bravely in the counter attack. Also you two... what are your names?"

He could hear Lee responding, "Lee."

And then Shikamaru after him. "Shikamaru."

Sasuke was finally able to see past the blinding white light, which had turned out to be a light fixture that he was under, and look around though still only able to barely open eyes. Dimly he saw Sarutobi, he could see that he was in the man's office, standing before him. Looking up he could see Naruto...who was holding him in his arms, for whatever reason. Kakashi, Iruka, Gai and Asuma were all behind Naruto, Lee and Shikamaru to Naruto's left and Konohamaru to Naruto's right. Looked like everyone was here, which could only mean that they were really in for it.

"Well Lee and Shikamaru, you two fought bravely also, especially for some one your ages." Sarutobi said. Lee looked away nervously from all of the attention and Shikamaru still kept his usual expression while he nodded. "And Konohamaru, the first thing I have to ask you...what were you thinking?" The calm before the storm.

Konohamaru dropped his bandaged head, shifting with a cast on his right arm which was in result from the explosion in Orochimaru's transport when it was attacked. There were plenty of cuts and bruises over him, his clothing hid more of the serous injuries. "Whatever I was thinking, It wasn't worth it..." He sighed, clinching his fist so tightly that his shoulders started to shake, but it became clear that that shaking wasn't from being tense after a sob emitted from him.

"I'm sorry. I should have listened to you!" Konohamaru shouted, tears forming in his eyes and streaming down his cheek. "I...should have listened..." The boy became completely silent, but his body was still shaking and tears were still falling freely, it was obvious that was trying to hold back. It raised the question just how much he was actually holding "I'm sorry, I don't care what happens anymore, punish me, charge me with treason, whatever, but I'm sorry."

"..." Sarutobi looked over him from where he was, he couldn't help but feel sorry for him even though in a way he brought this on to himself. "I knew something would happen too you, this is why I said no."

"I know...I just...had to get out...but..." Konohamaru felt his throat becoming dry, his stomach felt nauseated and he had this horrible oppressing feeling in his chest that made him want to curl in to a ball and whimper until he had nothing left. It was strong that it became hard for him to breath and he couldn't help but pant audibly. Nothing he'd ever felt had been this bad, he couldn't take it and finally he just broke down and cried.

"Konohamaru"

"It wasn't their fault..." Konohamaru managed to call out, indicating Naruto and for whatever reason, Sasuke too. The air around everyone became immensely tense at the moment, with a completely unknown cause to Sarutobi. There were a lot of things he didn't know...and just about everyone else couldn't help but feel uneasy at that fact.

Sarutobi looked over the crowd, everyone seem to avoid his gaze now. "...Could you all leave the room, I need to speak with Konohamaru." Naruto really tensed then, he felt horrible for him. He could only shake his head and sigh as he turned to leave the room, stepping in to the hallway outside with everyone else.

Sasuke got the feeling that a lot had transpired before he came to since nothing was said too Naruto, or maybe he'd awaken just in time. But the main thing on his mind was that he'd not been mentioned once, he should have been the topic of discussion all considering. '...' At the moment he decide to focus on moving...he felt some sensation now, enough to make a sound and more lightly. "...a..Uha..."

Naruto glared down at him, immediately dropping him as if he hadn't realized that he'd been holding him all of this time. "Bastard." He snorted.

Sasuke was immediately awakened completely, his eyes shot open as his back slammed into the carpeted ground. He sat down, cringing from the pain in his torso at the sudden movement. "Ahhhaaa!" He grunted, panting as he looked around. From what he could see everyone had disburse in to different parts of the White House already, he was sure no one had left yet. The only people around him were Naruto, who was leaning against the white walls with his arms folded, and Iruka.

Naruto had a sling on his right arm, along with plenty of bandages other then the one around his head. Iruka had the closest thing to a cast around his stomach from that puncture wound on his right side, his left leg and arm had been tended to and wrapped, along with the back of his neck and head. There was also a strip of the medical cloth across the bridge of his nose from the scare that'd been reopened in his attempt to reach Sasuke and Konohamaru before on Orochimaru's transport. It look like they'd succeed in making him come back...but everything was off. "How...long have I been out?"

"Shut up." Naruto growled.

"Naruto...?"

"Shut up!" Naruto said even louder, the last thing he wanted to do was to see or hear him, infact every move he made seemed to make him react in some type of way, it was clear why.

Sasuke still wasn't sure what was happening, he felt dazed, clouded, as if in a dream. Now that he looked at himself the only thing that seemed to be seriously wrong was the gash on his head Naruto had given him right before he'd pushed him off a 20 story building... "Why...were you carrying me?"

Naruto looked at him in a way he'd never seen, he could tell at that moment that Naruto's already fueled anger had reached it's peak. He snapped and lunged at Sasuke, grabbing him by the neck with his only available arm. Sasuke still wasn't sure what was happening, but he was sure that Naruto's hold with one had was stronger then it had been on Orochimaru's tower with two.

"Naruto!" Iruka reached around Naruto's side and pulled him back, making sure to agitate his injured arm slightly to insist compliance. "Stop."

"Stop! That bastard"

"I know...just..." Iruka had an unnatural calm about him in every movement he made, a false smile across his lips...but his eyes, just looking into them made Naruto desist. He looked as if he'd been hurt, he looked sad, but he also look oddly normal all at once. Naruto immediately recognized that look, he'd been using it for years, that mask he put on to cover any pain from outward appearance, anything he was feeling that he couldn't let anyone see. Iruka had been using that mask since he'd been a child and perfected it well, few if anyone else could see through it but some one who did the same thing at the same level of perfection. Seeing it from the outside was enough to make him listen. "Please stop."

Naruto snorted, looking at Sasuke as Iruka released him and keeping his eyes fixed on the other boy as he walked a few feet down the hall and leaned silently against it again. Sasuke found himself unable to respond, still dazed and surprised, out himself...it was either whatever medication he'd received or a concussion, probably both.

Sasuke turned to Iruka, "Where...am I?"

"The White house." Iruka explained, he found it imposable to look Sasuke in the eye when he spoke to him now.

Sasuke shook his head, trying to get rid of his current feelings. "How...long have I been out?"

Iruka shrugged "A day roughly."

"Why...am I not...I mean, why"

"Why no one mentioned what you did?" Iruka knew what he meant, the question would come up eventually. "You can thank Konohamaru for that. I don't know why...even after all that's happened between you two he begged us not to say anything...He was..." Iruka shook his head and sighed. "I don't know why I'm listening...for him I suppose..." For him...and for Sasuke weather he was willing to admit it.

"Doesn't mean your off the hook."

Sasuke looked back towards the other end of the hallway where Kakashi was standing unnoticed, "So why did you do it?"

"Do...?" Sasuke could barely remember what he'd just said, his mind was in such a disorganized state. He felt like he'd been minuscule amount away from memory loss, it'd been Naruto that did it, slamming his head in to the ground. Not to mention whatever had happened to him after Kakashi had knocked him out, he was sure he'd gotten substantial amounts of damage then. "I...?"

Just then the door to Sarutobi's office opened and Konohamaru emerged, looking no worse or no better then when they'd left him. His eyes were red from the crying and he was still sobbing, "Damnit!" Konohamaru yelled, punching the wall hard enough to leave behind a long crack, He yelled again, throwing another, and another, and another...

"Konohamaru."

Surprising Sarutobi got to him before Iruka could. "Calm down."

Konohamaru turned away, lifting his arm over his teary eyes. "I can't believe I was so stupid..."

"Konohamaru, what's wrong?"

"You know what's wrong..."

"No, something had to happen your not telling me. What is it?"

Konohamaru shook his head, still trying to avoid all eye contact. "It happened just like I told you."

Sarutobi looked back to Iruka questioningly, only receiving a shrug in return. Konohamaru shook his head finally just walked away, glaring at Sasuke as he passed him. Sasuke still felt unlike himself, wondering what exactly had been given to him to make in this way but he didn't say anything. No one really wanted to hear from him anyway, it would only incite rage from Naruto, he didn't much care though. But why hadn't anybody said anything about him?

Sarutobi looked in the direction Konohamaru had gone questioningly, he hadn't even gotten around to punishing him before the boy just looked himself "What happened to him back there?"

Iruka sighed "He wouldn't tell me, but I guess it was hard on him, when I saw him again he was covered in blood and had this on him." Iruka reached in to his pocket, shifting around slightly until he emerged with a silver object, a dog tag.

Sarutobi looked over it carefully, but at first sight it had been familiar to him "...Reedamaru's...what the hell did Orochimaru do?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure all of it wasn't Orochimaru." Iruka turned and away, clearly indicating Sasuke, "Is there anything else Mr. President?"

Sarutobi was still watching the hallway where Konohamaru had left moments ago, didn't seem to be paying attention until he responded. "No, you can go, I don't think I'm be able to get answers out of anyone but Konohamaru. And I'm sure have other things to do since the storm. "

Sasuke stood idle, waiting for someone to say anything, of course he knew things. He wasn't exactly sure what Orochimaru did to Konohamaru but he knew something about it. But Iruka was silent, and Naruto just looked away , Kakashi's visible eye shifted between him and Sarutobi but other then that he was quiet. With a sigh Sarutobi headed back to his office, calling in a secretary and a few other staff members of his administration. He had so much to deal with right now, but he was sure to get to the bottom of this.

By the time Sasuke looked away from the door, Naruto was gone and so was Iruka, only Kakashi remained, the same question still being asked.. "So why did you do it?"

Sasuke glanced back at him.

"The medication they gave you, I'm sure you noticed it, is probably still in effect but I'm sure you can think of some type of answer."

Sasuke still felt confused, disoriented, dazed, the only answer he could come up with was "I don't know." He was barely aware that he remembered anything, he'd never felt this way in his way and he didn't like it at all. "I'm not sure."

"So you've sold out the person who cared for you the most, and you betrayed and tried to kill the person loves you." Kakashi folded his arms "Even worse, you hurt Iruka."

Sasuke got a distinctive grimacing feeling at the tone of Kakashi's voice, he knew there'd be some subtle reprehension or some outright castigation from him at least. "What are you going to do?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

Kakashi closed his eyes and placed his hands in to his pocket "You heard me, everything that happens to you next is your own fault."

"My own...what do you mean."

"I'm not going to do anything, we'll see if your just the bastard Naruto called you...among _other_ things... or is there's something left of the Sasuke from before."

"?"

"You really don't look like you know what's happening now so, just as soon as the medication wares off." Kakashi turned and walked away, but paused for a moment. "And I'm going to be watching you, just in case you actually are a bastard and I need to...ehem, get back at you for what you did Iruka. If you try anything..."

"Why didn't anyone say anything about what I did?"

Kakashi began walking "Konohamaru. But I wouldn't say anything to him right now, not sure what he might do anymore... Whatever, you probably don't care about him anymore anyway right?"

With that Sasuke was left alone with his thoughts, What could he do now? What Next? Wait until this feeling he was carrying wore off, then he could think rationally.

! - ! - !

Sasuke walked down the long, white steps of the federal building, looking along Konoha from his view since this was the city's highest point. It appeared that over half of the city had been leveled, every inch was covered in debris and wreckage that had been thrown round. In places, water still remained, especially around ocean front and harbor which was halfway under. Obviously no place had any power except for locations such as hospitals that ran on generators, there wouldn't be any to the places still standing for quite a while, priorities.

Naruto walked past him, still completely silent, it was unnatural. "Naru"

"What now Sasuke." Naruto said, not even looking at him "Your going to just rub it him, how you screwed me and Konohamaru over, how you beat me. There's no reason for you to even talk to me, just go back to Orochimaru, leave me alone." He told him fiercely, rubbing his injured arm lightly over the sling. "If you ever say anything to me again I swear I'll"

"Naruto!"

Naruto glanced back and saw Lee running towards him, Shikamaru trailing behind. "Thick Brows?"

"I'm so glad your alright!" Lee said, grabbing him by the shoulders and hugging him, "When that storm came I really hoped you weren't caught in it."

"I was nowhere near it...but it looks like Konoha didn't get off easy either." Naruto sighed "Hey Lee...when this happened in the past, what happened next."

Lee thought about it for a moment, then turned to Shikamaru, he wasn't too clear on details since he'd left soon afterwords, Shikamaru explained for him. "Konoha was totaled...I see it recovered though...But I wonder how after something like that."

Naruto shrugged, "I don't know, I never paid attention in History class."

Shikamaru shook his head and smiled. "Figures, just like him."

"We'll see you later Naruto." Lee said. "Tell me if there is anything I can do for you." Giving him a smile and a quick thumbs up before heading off in a separate direction with Shikamaru.

Naruto shrugged and continued walking, Lee was still certainly energetic "I have a feeling there really isn't anything."

Sasuke sat down on the steps, watching Naruto's retreating form and then glancing back towards Lee and Shikamaru. Thinks went from strange, to horrible in such a short period of time, just like the past he supposed. Sasuke waited a moment before picking himself up and walking down in to the soaked streets...

And that's when it hit him, The medication finally wore off and he felt his usual orientation and state of mind returning, rational thought came with it. And then the overview of everything that had happened...everything.

"..."

! - ! - !

Konohamaru lay on his bed, curled tightly into a ball with his head buried in to his knees. He'd never felt like this before, the overbearing pain in his chest was surreally strong. He tried to fall asleep, something to get away from it, all of it was just too much. First his parents died, then he was captured and tortured by Orochimaru, highlighted by being thrown into a container filled with the chopped bodies of his mother and father. Then to make things worse, Sasuke, who had always protected him, did something like that with out warning or reason. And made it very clear that he did it own his own, followed by a few other harsh words. And Ebisu...he didn't deserve to die, not at all.

"Why can't I just sleep...let me sleep damnit...just let me sleep." Konohamaru moaned, sulking heavily. He was trying is best not to cry anymore but it was just too hard, just too much for him. Like falling into a deep hole that he couldn't climb out of no matter how hard he tried, and the hole was himself. The hole was draining him, he was starting to feel empty and alone, like he had nothing left.

Sarutobi opened the door, turning on the light that Konohamaru hadn't noticed he'd left off. "Konohamaru."

"Yes?" He didn't look up, he knew who it was and he didn't want to face him.

"Sarutobi cleared away some clutter and sat down next to the bed, the whole room seemed to have been trashed by Konohamaru. "Remodeling?"

"Sorry."

Sarutobi shook his head "Don't be sorry, just tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"Your lying, What aren't you telling me?"

Konohamaru curled up even tighter, he didn't want to be having this conversation. "Nothing, it happened just like I told you."

Sarutobi sighed "What did Orochimaru do to you?"

Konohamaru shuttered, biting his lip in order to stop himself from saying anything, but then he realized he'd been silent, and that was suspicious. "Nothing. It was just like I told you!" He said angrily, he was getting mad that his grandfather didn't believe him.

"Alight, I guess you'll tell me when your ready...But I did come here to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"It's Ebisu."

Konohamaru felt his insides turn, just thinking about it made him sad to the point where he felt nauseated. "..."

"Commander Asuma found him, he's alive."

"What! Really?" Konohamaru immediately turned around.

"Yes...but he's in critical condition, the doctors are saying they hope he'll stabilize by tomorrow...But"

"But he's going to be alright, right!"

Sarutobi paused, he didn't want to tell him the truth, he looked so helpful right now. "Well... He hasn't waken up or even responded, in a coma most likely."

"So...he's not..." Konohamaru curled back in to a ball, that nauseating feeling was even stronger now.

"To be honest, it's amazing that he's even alive now."

"He's not going to survive?"

"I'm sorry but...no."

Konohamaru became silent, tears filling his eyes again.

"Are you going to be alright?" Sarutobi asked.

Konohamaru didn't say anything, he felt like he couldn't speak if he tried. "..."

! - ! - !

"Gai-sensei." Lee called out, running towards him while avoiding as much debris as he could. Each step he took cause the water along the concrete to splash upward. Shikamaru trailed behind him, his hands casually in his pocket as he surveyed the damage around him. By some miracle Gai's house still stood, If it could avoid being blow up by a tank then a storm probably was noting for it.

"Lee, Shikamaru." Gai sat solemnly on his front lawn, his arms folded and his legs crossed with a tired and annoyed look on his face. He was staring at the spot where his Garage used to be as he sighed deeply. "That makes car number 3."

"Well...look at it this way, you still have your health, and we did survive even in these odds." Lee said, he tilted his head to the side as he thought, it was really hard to come up with reasons. "And...you still have your house...Oh yeah! You did really well protecting us, I thought we'd drown for sure."

Gai looked at him, seeming to instantly regain his energy "Your right Lee! No point sitting around feeling sad when there's so much to be happy about." Gai sprang to his feet, dusting himself off."

If there was one thing Lee could do, it was feed off of Gai's constant energy, seeing him happy made him happier. "And the way you handled that machine, it was amazing."

Shikamaru watched curiously, wondering how easy it was for them to build each other up. Maybe when he was younger he would have thought this kind of behavior troublesome and annoying, but now it was really cute. 'Lee...' He found himself smiling, not bothering to hide it.

"So what do we do next?" Lee asked.

Gai paused for a moment as he thought, tilting his head towards the sun as he did so. Truly a picture perfect "The future's possibilities are endless, especially at a time like this."

Gai cuffed his hands together and looked admiringly at him "That is so deep Gai-sensei." He let out a deep breath contently, then turned to Shikamaru, who seemed oddly amused. "Hey Shikamaru, so what do you think?"

"You two seem to be better at optimism then me, I'll leave it up to you two." Shikamaru said, taking another look around. He could even still see the tread marks over the grass from the tank.

Lee ran over to him, wrapping his arms around the boy's neck "What do you think is going to happen next?"

Shikamaru allowed himself to be embraced, leaning back slightly "No telling..."


	13. Chapter 13: Sweat misery

Chapter 13: Sweat misery

There was a knock on the door and a familiar voice called out from the hallway, "Konohamaru."

There was no response.

Sarutobi opened the door to the boy's room, it was still dark inside and he could tell Konohamaru hadn't turned it on since he'd came in yesterday. "..." The boy was still curled into a ball, sleeping with his head pressed against his knees and his mouth slightly open with audible breaths. He didn't even looked like he'd moved, "Konohamaru." He knelt down next to him, placing his hand on Konohamaru's shoulder and shaking him softly.

"Uh...Hm? " Konohamaru looked back at him "Huh Grandpa?"

Sarutobi looked over his face carefully, even though he had been sleeping he had dark lines under his eyes "You look horrible, when is the last time you've eaten?"

The boy shrugged "I don't know. I'm not hungry though."

What had gotten in to him? He just never acted this way before, he never looked this bad, and this is the longest he'd ever gone without food. "I was thinking and..." Sarutobi rubbed he back of his head nervously, he never actually had to do this before. "Maybe I could lift that punishment."

Konohamaru turned away quietly "That's ok..."

Now he was really worried, "Konohamaru, what's wrong? I know you don't want to say anything for whatever reason but"

"I'm fine."

"_No_, your not." Sarutobi said firmly "What is it then? You don't want to face it, you don't tell me? Are you scared, embarrassed? What is it!"

"It was nothing." He shook his head a remained silent.

"Maybe you'll tell me when your ready, but I'm not going to let you just sit here and drown in yourself like this." Sarutobi wrapped his arms around Konohamaru and pulled him out of bed with one swift motion, despite Konohamaru's resistance.

"Hey! Stop it!" Konohamaru struggled until he realized that his struggling was in vein because he was already being placed on his feet. 'He's pretty strong for an old guy.'

"Go outside." Sarutobi gave him a firm shove toward the door. "Do something, don't just stay here like this."

"I can't..." Konohamaru rushed through his mind for every excuse that would fit this situation, ironically he had plenty for just the opposite circumstances. "It's security, something could happen to me."

"The Sound isn't going to be anywhere near Konoha for a while." Sarutobi told him, he was sure after an unsuccessful attack of that magnitude, well not completely unsuccessful. "Stop stalling, either go outside and do something or tell me what happened."

Konohamaru sighed, he couldn't believe his grandfather was forcing him to go outside, very ironic. "Ok I guess..."

"I have a meeting to go to, so I'll be gone for a while. But when I get back we are going to talk about this."

'Not likely...'

! - ! - !

Naruto felt as if all of the air in his lungs had been pulled away, leaving him able to only gasp in disbelief. "N-no..." Naruto legs started to move on their own, stepping in a slow, mechanical like motion toward the wreckage before him. He could only look on with his eyes wide and his mouth open as though still in shock, and he was, while his legs pulled him closer and closer until he felt his feet hit wood. Even then they kept moving until the resistance was too great, and Naruto finally fell to his knees.

Waist deep in the wreckage that used to be his apartment, his home.

Naruto reached down into the various woods, rock and metal, as if digging for something, anything. But he came up with nothing but debris. 'I have...nothing left.' that was the only thing he could think, it kept repeating and repeating in his head until it finally sunk, his life had came crashing down around him. Naruto started digging through the rubble with his healthy arm, and then after a few seconds the one in a slink joined into the attempt. "No...Damnit! Damnit!" he pounded his fist and sent a good portion of wood and metal flying in to the air. It didn't matter that some was hitting him, or that his arm was hurting more and more, he just kept pounding and pounding...

"Naruto, stop it."

Naruto's eye narrowed and his head slowly turned enough for him to look over his shoulder, and he saw none other then Sasuke standing there. No cool, indifferent expression as usual, no remarks, just a boy who just didn't look like himself... He looked... "You...why the hell wont you leave me alone!" Naruto shouted, standing up from the pile and turning towards him.

"I"

"Go somewhere else."

"Naruto, just listen to me." Sasuke pleaded, he wasn't expecting it to happen though...

Naruto walked with high steps through the debris, slowly advancing on Sasuke. "You arrogant Bastard, you have to nerve to talked to me after what you did..."

"I know you don't want to hear from me but" Sasuke was cut off by a sharp punch to the face by Naruto, enough to knock him to the ground.

"Damn right!" Naruto lifted his foot to stomp on him, but found his body being pulled back by someone else. He flailed wildly to get out of the grip until finally he looked up at his captor.

"Alright, calm down." Kakashi said, releasing the boy. Kakashi had of course been following Sasuke, someone had too.

Naruto shook his head and snorted, trudging through the remaining wreckage and wandering away.

Sasuke couldn't just let him leave, he had to say something. "N-"

"You really don't know when to quit do you?" Kakashi abruptly cut him off.

Sasuke looked away, shoving his hands into his pockets in frustration and aggravation "You can stop following me, I'm not going to try anything."

"I don't know that."

The boy turned and walked away "I'm not."

"Prove it."

Sasuke glanced back at him, he didn't have much of a choice since Kakashi had a firm grip on his shoulder. He couldn't prove it, he had no way to. "I'm not."

"It's very simply done."

"How?"

"You'll figure it out, your smart."

Sasuke gave him one last overlook.

! - ! - !

"You really don't have to help me." Iruka said, knelling down with a small broom in hand and sweeping up the glass that littered his hardwood floor. "I'm sure you have more important things to do."

"It's ok." Asuma lifted a large box full of things that no longer could be used, mostly anything that could fit since everything was going. "You look like you have a lot of work to do."

"I really appreciate it." Iruka gave a small thanks as he moved over to the next window in the kitchen, knelling down in the last few orange and red rays of sunlight in the sunset, covering his body in a golden outline. Not much was left after the storm, except for water. Everything had to be replaced because of water damage or some closely related cause, everything.

Iruka tossed away the glass shards, moving on the table that had been smashed into the wall hard enough to be imbedded, far across the room from where it used to be. Iruka placed his foot against the wall wrapping both hands around a leg and pulled outward as hard as he could, it was completely buried to far for him to get out easily. On his second attempt he realized the intense pain shooting through his side from his injury. "Ahhaa..."

Iruka let go and stumbled backwards, clinching his left side tightly and cringing inwardly.

Asuma set the box down and walked over to Iruka, wrapping one arm around his back and pressing the other on to his chest to give the man some support "Are you alright?"

Iruka nodded "Yeah..." He tried to stand up strait again but bending wasn't something he'd be able to do for a while that's when he was painful reminded of how much it had taken for him to stand up strait the first time. "Heh..."

Asuma raised an eyebrow, he didn't see what was so funny "What?"

"This is just kind of embarrassing, you having to help me like this and all." Iruka blushed, he couldn't believe how much this wound had gotten in the way in such a short period of time. "I'm going to wait a while before I finish cleaning, at least until I get a little better."

"You should be resting anyway." Asuma said, "Don't worry, I'll cover for you." He was referring to work when he said this.

"Thank you Commander Sarutobi."

Asuma smirked, sifting the cigarette in his mouth that he'd lit earlier . "No need for such formalities." He said reassuring, he couldn't help but wonder about Iruka... "Just call me Asuma."

"Alright Sir...I mean Asuma." quickly corrected himself, "Sorry, habit."

Asuma picked up the box again, setting it in front of the door so he didn't forget to take it out when he left. "Well, I feel bad now. I don't have damage this severe, I don't think we can save anything."

Iruka looked around, he knew Asuma was right, nothing could be saved. "Hn..." He nodded, slowly sitting down in a chair and laying his head in his arms on the countertop.

Asuma placed a hand on his shoulder, "It's really weird to see you look so depressed. Your always so happy."

"Yeah well..."

Azuma pulled up a chair next to him, propping his elbow on to the counter and resting is head in his hand. "So, what happened?"

"You were there."

"No, I want to know why your so down."

Iruka looked over at him, he didn't know why he was so concerned with it "Why?"

Azuma knew that had come out harsher then Iruka meant, he obviously was bothered by some thing. "Because you look so horrible, it's depressing to see you look this sad when your usually the most cheery person I know."

Iruka laughed lightly "Are you serous?"

Azuma nodded "Of course, even on Mondays when everybody else barely wants to be bothered."

"Well..." Since Azuma was so interested, what could be the harm of telling him, he was actually relived, he needed to talk to someone right now and Kakashi

! - ! - !

Konohamaru slowly opened the door, met with the steady sound of constant beeps. "Ebisu?" Konohamaru looked around the empty hospital room, finding no one there except for the man laying in a bed nearby.

He walked slowly across the white tiled floors, glancing out of the open window to his left until his eyes came back on to he bed where Ebisu slept. This was one of the few times he'd seen him with out his glasses and bandana, it was strange how that was the first thing that came to his mind. Covers came up to Ebisu's waist, his upper body (and from what he could see lower body) was completely bare. An IV was connected, as well as packets of blood and some type of clear filtered into to his arms and legs. Electrodes were connected to wires on his Abs and forehead, and a tube was coming from his throat to help him breath, so much happened to him...

He looked in so much pain Konohamaru thought, Ebisu was connected to so many thing that he couldn't distinguish one wire or cord from another. "Ebisu...I'm so sorry." Konohamaru felt more tears coming to his eyes, this was his fault, he couldn't dispute that. Maybe if he'd gone to the roof when Itachi and Kisame told him too this wouldn't have happened. Naruto made it to the roof on his own, he probably would have made it in time too, and Sasuke could have just stayed for all he cared.

"I-I..." Konohamaru buried his face into Ebisu's chest and cried, he felt so weak, unable do anything else. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you before...you just wanted to protect me...I always got so mad at you...why did you stick around...You didn't even have to have this job, you could have been doing something a lot better...but you just stayed with me...Why..."

True, Ebisu had chosen to protect Konohamaru over less stressful and much easier jobs, some with higher pay. He was never sure why Ebisu didn't just leave, he knew watching him probably wasn't easy with the things he did.

Konohamaru lifted his head, tears streaming down his face...he slowly reached down and took hold of Ebisu's hand, rough and callous from so many years of welding a gun and constant combat. Another thing he had to deal with when protecting Konohamaru, just feeling his hands he could tell that so many things went on with out him knowing, so many things Ebisu had protected him from that he never had knowledge of... "Ijust sorry..."

! - ! - !

Naruto wandered helplessly around the city, trying to find one place that he liked that still remained... 'He has the nerve to say something to me...that bastard!' Naruto clinched his fist, his face contorting in anger. That was all he had, anger and sadness now, it seemed so strange that he'd left Konoha to get away from the things he had to go through daily. How could things turn out worse then before! How could everything become this bad for him. It didn't matter that his apartment was destroyed, it wouldn't have been home with out Sasuke there, and as much as he wanted to deny it he knew it was true.

He stopped completely. "No...There's no way in hell I'm going to cry over that bastard! He's not worth it..." Naruto told himself, fighting back anything that threatened to rise within him. As much as he wanted too he wouldn't let himself, not over him, not _him_, he didn't want show him that what he did had hurt him so much. He didn't deserve it!

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

6 years ago...

Naruto let out a longing sigh as he imagined himself falling face first into his warm bed, it was only Fall and already it seemed that this year Konoha's winter would be particularly bad. Lucky for him he had his jacket, he seemed very happy with the piece of orange clothing at the moment. "God, has it ever been this cold this early?"

Sasuke scowled, he didn't even want to think about how cold it was especially now. A sneeze escaped from him, though he wished it was from allergies he knew it was the beginnings of a cold. There was enough things around that he could fool himself if he really tried, the red, brown and golden leaves that littered the ground, the pollen. And each breeze knocked more of it out of the threes and threw the air, "Are you sure going through the park is quicker?" Sasuke asked, lifting his arm to his forehead to wipe away a stream of water running down from his hair.

Sasuke had had a rather...unfortunate accident involving a lot water on his way home from school, or rather to Naruto's home. Long story short, Naruto, fan girls, water, and Sasuke caught in the middle. People seemed extra protective of Sasuke since the unusually circumstanced murder of his family was still fresh, a month and a day, and it still hurt...

"I know my way around, trust me." Naruto grinned pridefuly, he knew this city better then most, he'd spent most of his time wandering since he didn't like staying at home much, it was always too empty for his liking.

Sasuke didn't bring it up again, he just focused on walking, not on the cold. He hadn't expected for the temperature to become this low this quickly, it had to be about 40 now when it was 60 this morning. It didn't usually get colder as the day progressed, but today it did...another sneeze, drawing Naruto's attention this time.

Naruto watched for a moment as Sasuke trailed behind him, his arms folded and his eyes downcast towards the covered ground as if leering at it. He looked...miserable, and Naruto felt bad for him, it was almost him in that situation, if it wasn't for Sasuke forcefuly _warning_ him.

A sudden warmth covered his shoulders making Sasuke look back "Huh?" he was surprised to see Naruto's jacket being placed on him. "What?"

"You looked really cold, besides, I don't need it." Another grin came across Naruto's face "I was never really bothered by the cold."

Sasuke looked at him curiously for a moment, then down at the jacket around him. "Warmer?" Naruto asked.

"Uh...Yeah..." Sasuke's mouth was open slightly, he didn't want to know what his eyes looked like, he felt like complete idiot right now.

"Then come on." Naruto found it strange that Sasuke just stood there and looked at him, he kept standing there soaked in this weather he was asking for a cold. So Naruto gabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him forward.

After that it hadn't taken long for Naruto and Sasuke to get home to the warmth of the apartment...

Naruto opened the door hastily and stepped inside, it really was colder then he'd thought it'd be with out his jacket, and Sasuke had noticed him shivering. Naruto didn't complain though, and every time he offered him his coat back, Naruto declined saying "You need it more then I do."

Sasuke gently laid the fabric aside on a chair as he walked in to the kitchen leaving behind a trail of water with each step. Something caught his eye as he walked past, it'd been sitting on the table since yesterday morning...the envelope baring legal documents about his inheritance, they were old now. Iruka had handled it for him yesterday, he knew the smart thing to do was to file them someplace safe, but for once he didn't want to be smart. He picked up the envelope and ripped it in half, tossing the remains into the garbage can.

Naruto watched him throw away the papers, he didn't bother to ask since he knew Sasuke didn't feel like explaining his actions. "So what are you going to do now?"

Sasuke shrugged "I don't know." he was a little confused at everything that had been happening, what to do next was always unsure. Naruto just wished he could help him, or at least understand what he was going through. Naruto had never lost any one important to him, he never had anyone to lose.

Naruto just watched him walk into their room to get a change of clothes, he was most likely to take a shower afterwords. "Hmm..."...A knock at the door forced him out of the thoughts he was drifting into. "Who could possibly be coming here?" Naruto crossed the room towards his door, careful not to slip on the water "Maybe someone finally tracked Sasuke down, if it's one of those girls I swear..." Naruto growled as he turned the knob.

Iruka was standing on the other end, smiling as usual "Hi Naruto."

"Iruka, what are you doing here?"

"Thought you could use these." Iruka handed him a bag of groceries, mostly vegetables. Which was just what he needed since his refrigerator was looking empty...

"Really?" Naruto smiled as he took the bag, thankful that Iruka would go out of way to bring him food and what looked like a hard day of drills and training. Iruka did have a tough job being a pilot at war time. Not waiting until he even got it to the table, Naruto began rummaging through it before looking through it "Aww, where's the ramen? And what's with all the vegetables?"

Iruka ruffled his hair lightly and pulled the bag out of his grasp and set it on to the table. "You need every bit it the way you eat." he said as he began taking out some of the items and putting them away.

Naruto, still very short at the time, pulled out a chair and started to help "Thanks." he said gratefully...then he paused..."Iruka, can I talk to you?"

Iruka didn't even give it a second thought "Sure, what's on your mind?"

Naruto jumped off the chair, sliding it backwards and sitting down. He was too short for his legs to reach the ground so he kicked circles in the gap between his feet in the floor, laying his head in his arms on the top of the back rest.

"Is it about Sasuke staying here?" Iruka asked

"Not really... It's about me, I'm starting to feel different when I'm around him. It's weird..." Naruto told him thoughtfully, staring down toward the ground while Iruka continued packing away "I feel kinda funny, I wanna be around him more, and every time he touches me my heart starts going really fast and I start acting funny. I think I'm getting sick."

Iruka laughed as he placed the last thing in it's place, then pulled a chair out from the other side of the table and sat next to him. "I don't think so, you said you want to be around him more. I think you might like him...Do you want him to leave?"

Naruto's eyes drifted down from the ceiling to the man "No, I really want him to stay, he's my friend."

"Are you sure, it doesn't really seem like it...you two argue a lot."

"Yeah, I really like that..."

Iruka looked over him, studying his face carefully. Though half of the boy's face was buried in his arms, Iruka could see the look in his eyes when he spoke about it. They just looked up toward the ceiling forlornly, staring off in to space, and when they fought they clearly didn't mean it and Naruto enjoyed it. There was only one conclusion. "Your defiantly not sick Naruto, your in love."

"Huh?"

"Your in love with him." Iruka smiled and looked down at him.

"How do you know."

"You'll understand it when your older..." Iruka patted him on the back before he stood up again and returned the chair back to it's place.

"So what should I do?" Naruto asked.

"Go for it, I know it will work out."

"How?"

"Because I had this same talk with Sasuke yesterday."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

He didn't want to think about this, he didn't even want to remember any of this, all of this was of Sasuke. And it just hurt too much. "..." After wandering for who knows how long he found himself back at this spot...where his home once stood. It was a habit that he hated himself for now... The sky was darkening now, preempting nighttime and darkness, and Naruto just stood there alone.

Alone again.

A chill ran through his body, now wishing that he had his jacket where ever it was, Naruto commenced to wandering again. Leaving himself to his thoughts.

'What did Orochimaru do...what made you do something like this...?' Naruto thought to himself. 'No, it wasn't Orochimaru, it was you, always you! You knew what you were doing and you did it anyway! You were always that type of person but to do something like _that_?' Naruto still couldn't believe that Sasuke would go as far as try to kill him. He remembered that time, at that moment when it had finally all sunk in, those few seconds before and after he was sent falling from a 20 story building. He remembered that part very clearly and it repeated itself over and over..

Sasuke had said it, he had said that he loved him...but that was just to catch him off guard. Sadly enough it worked, with obvious results, and when he was tumbling from that building, wondering if he was going to live or die he had plenty of time to think over it. How could he ever trust anything Sasuke says, when he had said he'd hated him and then...Naruto still couldn't get over that part. And then played with him so brutally just so he could kill him.

How the hell could he even listen to him after that? If he played with his heart once before, why wouldn't he do it again, what did he have to lose by doing it? "Bastard!" Naruto growled, punching a brick wall , one of the few that were still standing. "I'm not going to cry over you! Your not worth it!"

! - ! - !

All seemed silent here, as it always did since that day. He thought he'd never have to face this place again, for a while he'd forgotten completely about it. Sasuke had forgotten everything that happened here for 5 years he thought, standing outside of his family's old home, infact this section of the city had been primarily populated by his family. And after they'd died it never re populated, so it was always silent. He had no choice but to come back here, where else could he go?

All of this because of the stupidest thing he'd ever done, he wasn't even sure what he was thinking when he decided to betray his lover and his friend. Wait..._yeah_ he did, Itachi, and this place. Hate... he'd lost everything he had in one night, it didn't matter that he was still very rich, and owned all of this around him, he had nothing...

There was a distinct chill as he opened the front door, walking into the dark hallway illuminated by the fading sunlight in the windows. Anything not within a few feet was covered in a shadow that thickened more and more with each inch. He walked the dark, familiar path into the living room across the hardwood floor on to the carpeted, taking a long look around at everything that had been just how he left it, the only thing different was the amount of dust...

The small rustling of his feet across the carpet as the only sound that came, it was an eerie silence... Sasuke walked along the back walls, along the windows, then walk over to the white furnishings in the center of the room. He fell face first on to the white couch that sat in front of a large TV mounted on the wall wrapping his arms around his knees and curling in to a ball, he felt like a child right now, but he didn't care... "Naruto...why did I do it...I don't want to hurt you anymore...Konohamaru...what was I thinking!" He had to keep reminding himself he knew what he was thinking of "Damn you Itachi...I'm not going to be your puppet, it's my life and I'm not going to let you control it anymore."

As he sat alone in at dark room, in a place that it hurt to be in, he knew he had to get them back. For his own sanity, now he knew how Naruto had felt when he wanted to leave Konoha... At least he had to let them know sorry he was...

! - ! - !

"Maybe I don't need to watch him anymore..." Kakashi said to himself, his body perched in a tree outside of the Uchiha mansion with one leg drawn on to a branch and the other hanging down lazily "Well, look's like he wasn't a complete waste." Kakashi laid his head back against the tree branch, wandering if Sasuke was feeling bad enough about what he did to be trusted on his own for a while. He seemed to be feeling it now...

His phone beeped twice.

Kakashi pulled the cellular device from his pocket and looked at the screen, he had an E-mail, and not from any address he'd seen.'?' Kakashi opened it and read carefully...

'100th street may hold the possibility of evil for Konoha, thought you might want to know. - anonymous.'

"What the hell?" He didn't understand it, and the address he didn't turned out to be fake when he sent a reply. "What is this...?"

After a moment he figured he'd better check out a few things, find out who would send him something like this?

! - ! - !

"We pushed everything we had in to that attack, but we weren't expecting a counter initiative." Kabuto explained. "So it took longer then scheduled and we were caught by the storm, 75 percent of our forces were wiped out."

Orochimaru snorted "What are the estimated damages to the Leaf?"

"68 percent, it would have been more but they mobilized"

Orochimaru cut him off "Doesn't matter anymore, you got what you needed from Konoha's National Defense and Armed Forces Authority Center, how far long is the progress of SDI?"

Kabuto glanced down at the chart in his hand. " 70 percent, we still need to configure the protype BIOS, CMOS, make a few more additions for the Kernel program for the OS"

"The Kernel should have been done already."

"You have to understand, it's not easy configuring an OS for this type of system that actually works." Kabuto replied.

"Is it ready for a test fire?" Orochimaru asked

"No sir, the hardware isn't completely finished, and we still have to find a source of Chakra for the power supply." Kabuto said.

"What happened to the storm, didn't you draw it from there?"

"It's true the storm has more then enough Chakra then is required, but the plan to initially draw it from that source was never a dependable one. It's just not possible, but we can look for other sources."

"What other source? No human can produce it anymore, that was the only remotely possible thing besides the storm." Orochimaru scowled in annoyment, this was turning to be more troublesome then ever.

"Yes, there has been some other Chakra readings over Konoha that were detected during the storm." Kabuto glanced down to make sure he had his facts strait before continuing. "Two to be exact, human sources. I'll have to readjust the settings and get some extra parts but if we can get those sources then we'll still be able to get SDI operational."

"Anything else?"

"Did you go back for the ROM chip in the towers?" Kabuto asked.

"Yes..." Orochimaru thought about it for a moment, he hadn't seen it since he'd went back for it after telling Sasuke to handle Naruto... "Damnit! I must of dropped it...Can you trace it?"

"Yes, just one more thing that needs to be done." Kabuto sighed "And the nearest and easiest way to get the extra parts is to go to Konoha and get them...there's a few locations that use these things..." Kabuto had spent enough time in Konoha to know of these things.

"Can the ROM chip be replaced in case it isn't found?" Orochimaru knew if he dropped it back at the towers then more then likely it wasn't traceable

"We've spent 2 years developing and producing that especially for SDI, we can but it'd be too late before we can reproduce it even if we don't have to go through the developing phase ."

"Then make sure you find it."

"Yes sir Orochimaru."

Orochimaru let out another annoyed sigh, this was becoming tedious but it would be worth it. 'As soon as SDI is complete...Konoha Crash will be successful this time...'

! - ! - !

Konohamaru sighed as he sat next to Ebisu's dormant body, slowly reaching in to the inner part of his scarf wrapped around his neck and retrieving a clear case that lay there. He remembered Orochimaru dropping this, the chip inside clearly marked 'ROM'... "Maybe I should show this to someone...but I can show this to anyone around here...maybe..." Konohamaru sighed and put it back... "Ebisu... what am I suppose to do now? God I wish you were here."

Some part of him hoped for a reply, for some type of response from Ebisu. But man's chest only rose again only to fall, leaving an unsure void until the next rise and fall. "Ebisu...I miss you already. I don't want you too die..."


	14. Chapter 14: The possibility of evil part...

Chapter 14: The possibility of evil part 1

"Gai, Did you get a strange e-mail?"

Gai lifted his head out from under the hood of the car for a moment, just long enough for him to ask Lee to hand him a wrench and then go back under. "What do you mean Kakashi?"

"Something talking about the possibility of evil on 100th street."

Gai moved swiftly, he knew his way around a car and he'd done things like this so much he was able to make changes as fast as humanly possible. Right now he was loosening a clamp connected to the battery. "Lee, hand me that box over there..." he took the large, square box like device that was fitted with a few gauges on it and set it on top of the battery, holes were fixed on the bottom for the screws on the top of the battery to fit inside. "No, I haven't seen anything like that. Why?"

"I just got it, unmarked and all, it's suspicious...I'm going to check it out just to be sure." It did raise questions, who would send Kakashi of all people an unmarked E-mail? And how did said person get his address, it didn't make sense.

"I'll be right behind you." Gai said, closing the cell phone directly after and then returning the phone safely to his pocket."

"What was that about Gai-sensei?" Lee asked, the one from the future, Gai still got confused at times.

"Kakashi wants to investigate something." Gai told him, closing the hood tightly and then wiping away any oil on his hands. "Probably nothing serous...Oh don't you have to head that way?"

Lee nodded, "Yeah." He had some business to take care of, since he was aiming to become one of the Leaf's Special forces like Gai their were plenty of prerequisites that had dead lines, even with Konoha in it's current state. Unless every member of the board of directors came up dead, everything had to be done on time.

"I'll take you." Gai tossed the towel he was using aside, making sure his hands were thoroughly cleaned before even attempting to touch his car again.

"I've never seen that part of the city." Lee, the one from the past, said, sitting against a nearby wall holding a map in front of him, excited at the prospect of seeing new locations. Even if it was most likely over halfway destroyed, he could see how repairs were done in this time period. "Can I come too?"

"Sure." Gai took another look at his new car, it was green this time, and it more closely resembled his old race car...

Lee knelt by the car and looked closely "Gai...Isn't this...your old car? I mean the one you use to race with?"

"Wow, your really observant Lee. This is the exact same car, I just restored it since I was sadly out of options and had no choice but to bring this one out of retirement." Gai dropped his head and sighed, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go through the trouble of buying a new car and then putting in the extra money to get it up to at least his minimum standards of speed and performance. Why not get the car that set those standards and tweak it to it's maximum potential? Those that extra tweaking would take a while and a lot of funds, Gai was going to make sure nothing happened to this one. This was his most prized possession.

The past Lee looked back towards Shikamaru, who was sleeping peacefully beside him. They were in a storage garage on the other side of town, in fact it was the lower level of the one they'd escaped the storm in. Lee gave him a small nudge, "Wanna come?"

Shikamaru had a general idea of what was happening when he saw Lee's counterpart getting in Gai's car, though still sleepy he was coherent. "Uh..." He wasn't so sure he wanted to get into another car after what happened the last time...too many things happening that he wasn't in control of, nauseating things. "You are?"

"Uh-huh." Lee nodded, "I think I've gotten use to the speed."

Shikamaru had almost forgotten how essentially fast Lee was, "...I guess I don't much have a choice anyway."

! - ! - !

It almost hurt to look at this again, it was amazing to think it could stay in one piece after what it's been through. Iruka folded his arms and let out a deep breath he hadn't released he'd been holding, he'd put years into this plane and now...

The blue jet had more holes in it then he cared to admit, even parts of the frames had large gaps where explosions had taken place. Even the cockpit was charred, it didn't look like this was worth saving, the only place that was still in one piece was the numbers 4477 on the side by the left wing. "I'd better get to work then...now where do I start?" Iruka had plenty of tools at his disposal, being an a very empty army base, one that had been bombed in the Sound attack but still relatively safe down in the lower levels. He liked the fact that he wouldn't be interrupted.

Iruka pulled down a few chains from the ceiling, "This won't be so bad...I'll make it even better then before." he said to himself, going through the process of wrapping and hooking them around each wing as best as he could with out bending. His injuries weren't making this easy. Next he climbed on top of the nose of the plane and hooked one around it too, then finally he hiked across the cockpit to reach the tail of the plane and did the same there with the remaining fourth chain. "I should remove these seats first...might make frame work easier..." He said to himself as he looked back in to the cockpit.

With that thought he jumped out on to the wing of the plane, holding his agitated side as he climbed down to the ground with one hand for support. "Whaa!" He jumped backwards, startled by the sudden appearance of one Uchiha Sasuke standing before him. "Sasuke? Do you always walk so quietly?" He said with a small sigh of relief, "You shouldn't scare me like that.. I guess I'm still a little on edge." Stress was not in short supply now a days.

"Iruka..." Sasuke looked at him reluctantly though still didn't turn away as he spoke, it was odd being so nervous when he spoke to the man, one of few people he knew well. "Can I talk to you?"

Iruka reached for a drill that was laying on a cart that sat nearby, "Really?" He asked, slowly making his way back on to the wing with a visible strain, every movement that wasn't strait forward hurt. "Well...go ahead then?"

"You still want to talk to me?" Sasuke placed his hands into his pocket and looked down toward the ground "Even after what I did? Why?"

"I don't know." Iruka never even realized that he'd been avoiding looking at Sasuke the whole time, it was more of a self-conscious action that Sasuke had been keenly aware of. And every second it made it self known by how Iruka seemed to be more focused on working the when he arrived. "So what's on your mind?"

"How can you talk to me like I haven't done anything? Aren't you mad at me?" Sasuke wished Iruka would have gave him a look, yelled, even take a different tone, anything! The way he was acting now was killing him. "And...why didn't you fight me?"

Iruka reached down and grabbed on to the bottom of the pilot seat, starting to unbolt each restraint holding it down. "I don't know...I guess I couldn't, I couldn't bring my self to do it."

Ow...Sasuke was really feeling it now, he still didn't see how he could bring himself to hurt Iruka so badly. Even after he clearly cared for him enough not to hurt him despite what he'd done. After he almost killed Naruto, and what he did to Konohamaru, how was it even possible? "Iruka...I'm sorry."

"Don't say that." Iruka's tone changed into something unexpectedly serous.

"What do you mean?"

Iruka sat down the drill and turned toward Sasuke, looking him directly in the eye this time "Don't say that unless you are truly sorry about it, not just because your feeling guilty about what you did." Iruka stopped and shook his head, "Sorry..."

That answered Sasuke's question, Iruka was mad at him, very mad. He never heard him talk like that, even when he was mad in the past, but he even apologized for it though Sasuke didn't deserve that much. Iruka really was a nice guy. But it did raise a question, was Sasuke really sorry or was he just really guilty and needed to apologize to make himself feel better. "No...I really am sorry."

"Why?" Iruka still kept a even tone.

"Because...I hurt you."

"Why? Sounds like guilt to me."

"...It's not."

Iruka sighed again, sitting on the edge of the wing above Sasuke, "Prove it to me." It could easily seen that he didn't want to be this hard on Sasuke, but he had too, how else was he going to see if he was truthful or not. He knew what Sasuke was capable of, and despite how much he loved him he wasn't stupid.

Sasuke looked away "I...I don't know how."

"Just tell me why you did it."

"Because I..." Sasuke stopped and thought about it "I don't know why."

"Yes you do, Just tell me."

"I...I...did it because...I remembered Itachi and what he did." It all seemed to come easily now that Sasuke thought about it hard enough, but he already knew, he had been avoiding it completely to the point where he nearly fooled himself. "And I hate him for it, I realized how weak I really am and I hated my self for it! What was I doing all of this time? I should have been stronger then that, But I couldn't even lay a finger on him! I kept thinking why was I so weak? I spent all of my time here, with all of you like I was in a dream, a stupid dream! I hated what I became, how weak I was! That's why I did it."

"Then...are you really sorry?"

"...Yes." Sasuke said, holding his hand under his chin while he thought. "II am."

Iruka looked over him considerately, "Well...what do you want to talk about." He stood up, leaning over the cockpit again and returned to removing the seat.

Sasuke didn't even have to think about it. "Naruto."

"Hmm...Figured as much"

"Your still going to help me? Even after everything I said to you...what I did to you?"

"Yes Sasuke."

"Iruka..."

! - ! - !

"You guys actually came back to Konoha?" Konohamaru looked up at Itachi in disbelief, back at their usual hide out when they were in the city. "Why?"

"The Antidote was here." Itachi said simply.

Antidote? poison...heal...Kisame! "Where's Kisame? Is he alright!" Konohamaru immediately became worried, as if he could handle any more. "Is he"

"Calm down, he's fine." Itachi softly patted him on the head and walked past him "Bedroom."

Konohamaru immediately darted up the stairway as soon as Itachi told him, moving through the familiar hallways and in to the bedroom. "Kisame!" He found the man laying asleep in the bed the covers pulled up to his chest in nothing but his boxers.

And apparently Konohamaru's rather loud entrance was enough to wake him. "Oww...damnit! What the fuck is all that noise. Can't a guy die in peace?" He mumbled, shifting around slightly and rubbing his head so hard that it had to be painful in itself.

"Kisame! Your dieing!" Konohamaru immediately ran up to his bedside, leaning over him tentively with eyes widened.

Kisame opened one eye half-lidedly, forcing himself to wake up a little bit more when he realized it was Konohamaru when had woke him. "Kid?" Kisame shifted one arm back and sat up as best he could, "What are you doing here?"

"Y-your really going to die?"

Kisame looked closely at the boy through blurry vision, he squinted until there was some focus, his body was still being effected by the poison. That when he saw how close Konohamaru was to crying 'Whoa? What is with him?' "No, I'm not really dieing...I feel like it though."

Konohamaru nearly cried in relief as he dived on to the bed and hugged Kisame's waist tightly, getting a small grown of pain in response. "I thought you were going to die too..."

Kisame looked down at him in confusion, conflicting with himself to push him off in annoyment or to let him stay in pity. "Come on, you can't take anything I say seriously, I'm a criminal, remember?" He rubbed Konohamaru's back, deciding to let him stay this time since it hurt to make sudden movements such as pushing...or at least that's what he told himself.

Konohamaru reached behind him, in the waist band of his pants and retrieved Kisame's silver magnum that he'd been holding on too for a few days now "Thanks... how did you know that I wasn't going to the roof?"

Kisame smirked "I know you well enough, I figured you'd go back for your friends. Wasn't the smartest move but I'll give it to you, you didn't die. I should kick your ass for all the trouble you caused me." He looked over the familiar weapon, checking the chamber. Most of the bullets were still there. "So?"

"So what?"

"So what happened? What's with you?" Kisame asked.

"That bastard Sasuke." Konohamaru growled, "He betrayed us, for Orochimaru."

Kisame slowly laid back, letting out a deep breath of tensed pain, his whole body aced though he'd been given the antidote in time. It'd be another day until it took full effect to counteract the poison so until then he'd be constantly hurting. "Itachi's brother, that guy you like?"

"How did you know about that."

Kisame laughed loudly "You practically yelled it out in back when heard about what Itachi did to him."

"God I hate him now...but I still like him..."

"Want me to kick his ass for you."

"No! Don't hurt him."

So Konohamaru still liked Sasuke, but that really wasn't what Kisame wanted to know. "What happened before then, I'm talking about before we came and saved your ass."

"..." Konohamaru looked away, but he hugged Kisame tighter.

"Come on, tell me."

"...Nothing."

"Nothing? You were covered in blood, what happened? What are you afraid of telling me for? Cause' if it's Orochimaru..."

"I'm not afraid!" Konohamaru shouted, looking up at him with narrowed eyes. "I just...I'm not scared!"

"Then why aren't you telling me?"

"I don't have to tell you everything! It was nothing!" Konohamaru yelled, his eyes filling with tears and falling down his cheek.

'He's...crying?' now Kisame was really confused, Konohamaru never cried in front of him. Kisame wasn't much in dealing with this type of thing, he didn't have a clue what to do next. That's why he was either going to be really happy or hate himself for what ever he decide to say next. "So are you trying to protect Sasuke? Did Orochimaru say something to you, is that it? "

"No." Konohamaru growled, it was amazing to see how much animosity he held toward Orochimaru "I hate that Bastard...What he"

"Kid... let go." Kisame said, reaching down and prying Konohamaru's hands out of his back and loosening his arms a bit. "Why wont you tell me? You never had a problem before."

"I don't want to talk about it." Konohamaru removed himself from Kisame and pushed himself off the bed, walking out of the room in an almost sulking manner. He silently passed Itachi as he left...

"Ok that's it." Kisame sat up again, looking directly at Itachi, "Orochimaru is going to die in the most painful way I can think of. What the hell did he do?"

Itachi folded his arms and looked up in thought "..." he didn't know. "Konohamaru doesn't want to remember what happened, he had a bad habit of blocking things out..."

"Can't fix him he we don't know what's wrong, how are we going to get it out of him?"

"I'll do it."

! - ! - !

Just being here he could tell that something was off, first, all of the heavy construction equipment wasn't manned. A large crane sat in the center of the blocked off street, being used to repair the large tower in front of it, though he couldn't tell what the building had been anymore. Most of the smaller faculties on the street had relatively minor damages, this had been the campus of the Smith and Cline research facility. It dealt mainly in developing cures for diseases through medication, but it also developed medical equipment technology.

So a lot of money was being poured into getting this place functioning again, too many freezers and refrigerators with years worth of work and medical breakthroughs. It was practically being worked on 24/7, so that's why it was odd not to see anyone here in the middle of the day. "Hmm..." Kakashi walked cautiously down the privately owned street used exclusively by the company, first off walking to the large crane that sat dormant, upon closer examination he could see trace amounts of blood across the yellow surface.

He immediately retrieved his radio from his waist, "Look's like that E-mail was right, something defiantly happened here...Where are you now?" Kakashi asked, he wasn't given a response but instead he heard the roar of a car engine approaching... Just as he expected, a green automotive turned sharply around the corner, sliding sideways from the momentum and stopping right against the curve.

Gai emerged, with Shikamaru and minus one dropped off Lee. "What's the trouble?"

_Boom! A soft explosion came from nearby, it could be heard clearly through an alley between the large 10 story tower under construction and a much smaller building next to it. A small amount of smoke poured out and Kabuto emerged, running right past them and being followed closely by someone even more unexpected._

'It's him!' Kakashi's mind raced after seeing the unknown person who seemed to have the same reaction, "Gai! Go after Kabuto!"

"Right." Gai shot off in the opposite direction, Shikamaru and Lee following closely behind as Kabuto, a little bit farther ahead, rammed his way through the front door of an apposing facility. 6 stories with the name '5th Hokage memorial research center'.

"Gai, what's going on?" Lee asked, catching up and moving along side of the man.

"We're about to find out." Gai reached into a holster hidden under his shirt and drew his handgun "You two see if you can cut him off."

Lee and Shikamaru nodded, taking a step back before leaping upward and smashing through a second floor window.

Kakashi shook his head, forcing himself to refocus. "Zabuza? What are you doing here?"

"Kabuto." Zabuza in his usual even tone, right before the smaller building behind him collapsed in a blaze of flames from the previous explosion.

Kakashi sighed "Let me guess, a bomb."

"On your first try too." Zabuza reached into his back pocket and pulled out a remote. "I don't have time to deal with you right now, I can't fail this time." And right after he spoke a small and faint beep could be heard, causing Kakashi to looked around frantically. He was sure he'd heard one beep in every direction.

Zabuza immediately ran after Kabuto while Kakashi looked around. 'No, the other sounds must have been distractions!' Kakashi had realized 3 of the beeps sounded the same while one of them had an extra sound incorporated, the sound of something arming. And what was behind him? "The crane!" Kakashi immediately dove under it, knowing the most effective palace to blow up the machine was by the fuel tank.

'Damn, he found it that quickly.' Zabuza retorted to himself as he headed into another alleyway on the side of the building Kabuto had entered. 'I'll have to lose him again.' Zabuza reached into a side pack on his waist that held a pound of C4 and a special detonator made with silicon, planting the deceive on the outside of the door before he entered it and shut it behind him. And much quicker then he'd expected, Kakashi tossed away another square block of C4 out from under the crane and emerged with a defused detonator in his hand.

"Why the hell is he here?" Kakashi moved quickly as he followed Zabuza's trail, finding his path blocked by another explosive device on the doorway. 'This is just too simp' As soon as Kakashi touched the detonator to disarm it the C4 was set of, sending Kakashi flying backwards in to a brick wall followed by a rush of flames and debris... 'Some type of touch sensitive...? I've never seen anything like this.'

Kakashi 1, Zabuza 1

! - ! - !

"Your problem Sasuke is that you've been trying to apologize with out actually saying your sorry." Iruka said, after removing the last seat he'd used the levy connected by the chains to lift his plane off the ground, he didn't even know where to start. "And you have to accept the fact that there is a good chance he's never going to listen too you."

"..." Sasuke silently stood up from the spot on the floor where he'd been sitting.

"I can't really say anything else, it's up to him not me."

Sasuke let his hands rest in his pocket and started on is way out. "Thank you." He was sure to call back gratefully, he'd never been so grateful to him in his life. Iruka seemed to be the only person who took the time to listen to anything he had to say, Sasuke could only think now as he headed for the stairway. The only other way out of this place that wasn't blocked by wreckage

He passed Asuma on his way up. "Iruka."

Iruka looked up from his work and glanced back "Asuma?"

Asuma took a quick over look of the place as he approached the other man, cigarette in his mouth as usual. "Wow, are you sure about working on this...You might as well scrap it."

Iruka shook his head "I couldn't do that, it's too important to me to just throw away."

Asuma took another look up at the aircraft, it seemed like a waste of time trying to save something this far gone. He guess he understood a little bit, but this was just imposable "Are you sure about this, I don't think you can save it."

"Sure it will take some work but..." Iruka started a large power saw, obviously going to take the blunt approach to removing the steel covering over the frame since it was useless in it's condition. "But when I'm finished it will be better then before." He said optimistically, pressing the spinning blade against the side of the ship with obvious trouble, the resistance of holding the tool in place forced him to make...undesirable movements. Painful movements.

Asuma smiled, Iruka must have really liked this machine to go through this much trouble by himself. "Let me help you with that." Asuma reached one hand over Iruka's shoulder and another under his lifted arm to take hold of the power saw.

Iruka blushed and let it fall into Asuma's grip, taking a step back to get out of the way only to run into Asuma's chest. Making him blush harder. "Sorry... "

Asuma was about to respond when his radio screeched to life, relaying Kakashi's transmission to Gai, and also picking up a stray word before the transmission was ended...Kabuto. "Ka-Kabuto!" Iruka abruptly moved under Asuma's arm, despite the sharp pain that followed "He's here! In Konoha!" Iruka growled.

Asuma nearly dropped the saw in confusion, though he did end up dropping the cigarette "Kabuto? What is it Iruka?"

"Why is he here..." Iruka didn't seem to hear Asuma, "He's not going to get away this time!"

"Hey Iruka! Wait!"

! - ! - !

Kabuto rushed into the large room, slamming the door shut behind him as he entered the Laboratory. It was nearly too dark to see, and anything worth keeping on was running on battery power. There was a clear path between the tables and machinery lining the walls, he just followed the hum of equipment running in the back of the room, he knew the incubator was back there.

The window suddenly smashed apart as two bodies flew through it, Shikamaru and Lee landed gracefully and slid to a stop in front of Kabuto. "I'm not exactly sure what your doing." Shikamaru slowly started to side step to the left so that he was farther obstructing Kabuto's path. "But your not going any farther."

"I don't have time for this." Kabuto rushed toward them, fully intending to move the two out of the way by any means necessary, but he stopped when a small beep started to resonate from a small device on his waist. His eyes widened considerably, "It can't be..." He picked up a small black device just larger then his palm, then he pointed it towards Lee...then towards Shikamaru, resulting in a series of louder and more frequent beeps. "Your...one of the sources."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow "What are you talking about!"

"Shikamaru! Move!" Before any of them could figure out what was going on, Gai came diving out of nowhere and in to Shikamaru. Ramming him aside with his shoulder and knocking him out of the way just in time for a needle to miss the boy and embed it self directly into Gai's chest.

'Kabuto managed to throw that at Shikamaru...and I didn't even notice it' Lee thought as he ran towards his sensei just as the man hit the ground. Either Kabuto was really good or he needed more training in his ninja skills. "Gai-sensei!"

Kabuto took advantage of the confusion, driving a sharp elbow into Shikamaru, the only one still in his way, and forcing his way through to the incubator he'd been trying to get to in the first pace.

"Damnit! What was that?" Gai reached upward and held on to Lee's shoulder to pick himself up, warping his other hand around the needle in his chest and tossing it aside "Right next to the heart...it's taking effect quickly." Gai's voice became weaker, his eyes became half lidded and he panted heavily, almost falling from dizziness. His vision was getting dark, he felt like he was about to pass out "What did you do to me!"

Kabuto emerged with a vile of green liquid, giving a swift kick to Shikamaru before he could get up. Shikamaru sent punch to Kabuto's leg making the man stumble forward and fall on to Gai, who seemed to be out of it at the moment. "Gai..." Kabuto whispered something quickly into his ear and then used him to get back on his feet and moved past him.

Why didn't Gai go after him?

Lee didn't have time to think about it, he bolted after Kabuto, only to have two arms wrap around his neck and yank him back. He was being choked... "G-Gai-sensei? What are you doing?" He got no response, it was like Gai was asleep, not himself, as if he didn't even realize what was going on. Lee sent a swift elbow in to Gai's stomach and pulled away, only to have a strong punch knock him in to the wall. "What did you do to him!"

Kabuto smirked, tucking away the vile safely away. "It's a manipulative additive, make's a person's mind susceptive to outside commands."

"Shadow Mimic No Jutsu!" Shikamaru clasped his hands together in a quick hand seal, causing his shadow to spring outward towards Kabuto, who had moved during the process to a spot surrounded by sunlight, caused by the boys sudden entrance. Shikamaru had to stop, the room was so dark he'd hit Lee, and the last thing Lee needed to do was stop moving right now. And the fact that he'd just been elbowed in the face by Gai.

Lee tried his best to avoid Gai's attacks on him, but the man was so quick and strong enough to break through when he tried to block. Gai crouched slightly, driving another punch in to Lee's stomach. Lee caught Gai's hand, but while he was doing that Gai grabbed him by the neck with his other hand and lifted him off the ground. "Change him back! Now!" Lee shouted, taking a kick to the stomach and flying back. Gai immediately climbed on top of him and pinned him down, going for the neck again before Lee caught his hands 'No, I can't hurt him, he's not himself.' "Reverse what ever you did to him!" Lee couldn't hold on like this, Gai was too strong.

"Don't worry, I instructed him not to kill you Shikamaru." Kabuto quickly moved toward the door, he had other things to take care off. "I'm be back for you later."

Shikamaru was torn between going after Kabuto and forcing him to tell them how to stop the effect that held Gai, or helping Lee who was doing his best to hold Gai off with out hurting him. But it was clear even to Lee that they'd have to fight the man... "Damn you..." Shikamaru growled.

! - ! - !

"Zabuza!" Kakashi kicked open the door, running up the stairwell toward the second with out missing a step. Zabuza looked back.

'Damn he's fast...' Zabuza jumped backwards, rotating in mid air so that he was facing Kakashi and kicking him in the face.

Kakashi stumbled back, then moved forward and drove his elbow in to Zabuza's chest "Why are you here?" Kakashi reached forward and grabbed Zabuza by his shoulder, driving his forehead into Zabuza's. "And why do you keep blowing things up?"

Zabuza wrapped his arms around Kakashi's neck and drew back, lifting the man off his feet and slamming him down on the stairs. "The Sound are still planning something, and _my bombs_ took out all of Kabuto's men. So I'm not _just blowing things up._"

Kakashi drove his foot upward and kicked Zabuza, hard enough to make the man tumble downward about 10 steps to the landing. Zabuza quickly oriented himself, rolling over and on to his feet again. "Let me guess, the Mist still doesn't know what your doing?" Kakashi jumped down to meet him, but had a powerful uppercut sent into his chin before he even landed.

"That doesn't matter." Zabuza snorted, Kakashi flipped backwards to recover from the previous hit at the last second. Then he jumped from a few steps above, over Zabuza, kicking off the wall behind him and then driving his foot in to the back of the man's head. Zabuza tumbled forward in to the steps again, hit his head on one of them.

"Isn't that the same thing you said last time." Kakashi was about to go on the attack again, but he looked as if he'd just remembered something. "Oh yeah." Kakashi reached into his back pocket and retrieved another one of Zabuza's remotes and tossing it to him "Thanks for the help."

Zabuza looked down at it carefully "I thought you didn't want to destroy Orochimaru's towers."

"I never said that." Kakashi clarified "You were going to blow up my friends in the crossfire, some people are just too impatient."

"People like you are too weak to ever get something useful done."

"Are you calling me weak?" Kakashi gave a fake pout "I'm hurt, I guess the ass kicking I was giving meant nothing to you."

"Your an odd one Hatake Kakashi."

"You are too...Uh think you can tell me your last name this time?"

Zabuza smirked behind the mask, Kakashi was doing just as he did before on the towers, it was amusing. Kakashi was the first person to amuse him since he could ever remember, and he was a formidable appoint. "Heh, Momochi."

"Alright Momochi Zabuza, I like that name...So are you going to let me see what's behind that mask now?" Kakashi leaned over him, his face a few inches from Zabuza's, look at him with a child like curiosity.

Zabuza looked up at him in confusion for a moment...then turned away and pushed Kakashi back. "Foolish." He still couldn't figure out why he found Kakashi funny, this kind of thing from some one else wouldn't have gotten the same reaction. Zabuza found himself again having to stifle laughed and settle for a hidden smirk behind the mask.

"Come on, I want to know what your hiding."

"Why don't you show me first."

Kakashi laughed "What? It's only the second date."

Zabuza held up the remote up, pressing a few buttons and linking it to another bomb "You want to know, beat me and I might tell you."

"Deal." Kakashi punched him in the mouth. "Oh wait, aren't we forgetting something?"

There was a loud thump from behind the second floor door, Kakashi and Zabuza looked at each other "Kabuto!"

! - ! - !

Kabuto looked down at his watch, he'd lost too much time dealing with them. He was off schedule but it was worth it, not only did he get what he was looking for but he found one of the two sources of Chakra needed.

"Wait Iruka, calm down, are we even in the right place?"

Kabuto froze, that name, _he_ was here? Of Course _he_ was here, _he_ was right behind him. Iruka had been practically lead here with the explosions and all. Kabuto shook his head and turned around, find himself coming face to face with the other man, Asuma catching up.

"What the!" Asuma had caught a glimpse of the room Kabuto had just come from, he couldn't help but see the fight transpiring. "Gai! What are you doing!"

Iruka looked back just long enough to see what was happening.

"Iruka, very persistent, I'll give you that much." Kabuto said with a smirk. Iruka glared at him intensely.

"What are you doing here?"

"Taking care of some business, seems your going to get in my way again so there no use wasting time now is there?" Kabuto punched Iruka in the stomach, forcing the man to hunch over and clinch his side.

Iruka wrapped his arms around Kabuto's waist and rammed the man into the wall. "I won't let you"

Kabuto drove his elbow down into the back of Iruka's head, sending a swift kick to his stomach "I admire your perseverance, no matter now foolish it may be." Kabuto causal drew another needle, driving it down into Iruka's back.

Iruka fell on to his stomach and rolled over, just barely avoiding the needle as he grabbed Kabuto's hand and tried to pry the instrument away. "What are you trying to do to me!" Iruka growled, pulling himself to his feet and pulling Kabuto's head down into his rising shoulder.

Kabuto placed his hand on Iruka's shoulder and pushed him back down, then push Iruka's head down into his knee, making the man fall back into the opposite hallway wall. "The second test of a drug I used on your teammate back there. It gives me the ability to manipulate their thoughts and actions, some one should have used it on you a long time ago."

"Your...Controlling Gai?" Now it started to make sense, that's why Gai was attacking Lee. "Tell me out to stop it! Now!" Iruka rushed at him blindly again, throwing and landing a punch to Kabuto's chest, Kabuto grabbed him by his arm and pulled the other man into his fist before throwing him into the wall again. Iruka pushed off with his hands, driving his elbow into the back of Kabuto's head and making him stumble forward. "Where's the Antidote!"

Kabuto found an unexpected weight knocking him to the ground, Iruka jumped on him, wrapping his arms around Kabuto's neck and holding him down as best he could. "Tell me!"

Kabuto pushed himself to his feet, despite Iruka weight, reaching back, pulling the man over his shoulder and slamming him painfully to the ground. Iruka let out a startled cry of pain, more so from injures that were already their when he started the fight, he clinched his side as he cringed. "Did you actually think you could win against me? Or did you forget the last 2 times."

"My records pretty clean, how about I give it a try."

Kabuto felt three impacts, one on the back of his head, and two on his chest from strong blows. Asuma had come from behind while Kakashi and Zabuza had hit him from the front, making Kabuto fall painfully to the ground. As soon as Kabuto was down Asuma ran past him to Iruka, Kakashi looked back to make sure he could handle it, then went back to dealing with Kabuto. "Kakashi 1, Kabuto 0, How am I doing so far?"

Kabuto grunted and picked himself up, retrieving two more needles containing the manipulative drug. Before he could get close to throwing them, he felt Zabuza's forearm slamming in to his neck and knocking him to the ground again. Kakashi stomped down on Kabuto's chest and held him down "Zabuza 1, Kabuto 0, Your not doing so good anymore huh?"

With Asuma's help, Iruka stood to his feet again, "Get the Antidote, for Gai."

Kakashi started searching Kabuto while Zabuza held him down "Why, what's wrong with " Kakashi was cut off by the wall just ahead of them bursting in a spray of drywall, wood, concrete and flames. Lee's and Gai's bodies smashing through in the rush of fire and landing hard on the other side.

"Shadow Mimic no Jutsu!" Shikamaru appeared at the base of the hole, shadow stretching outward and connecting with Gai's. "Lee, are you ok?"

Lee wiped a small about of blood from his forehead and shook an open fire from his left arm, Guns and Battery packs don't mix. "Yeah...Is Gai" Lee looked up at the man, still struggling against the Jutsu that bound him.

Kakashi found a syringe, "I think this is it, cause if it's not..." Kakashi left Kabuto with the thought as he walked over to the frozen Gai and injected the fluid into his arm. He nearly jumped when Kabuto ran past him, some how escaping from Zabuza.

"I'll see you another time, Iruka. I don't worry I haven't forgotten about you Shikamaru." Kabuto dived head first out of the window, and he could have been perused if Gai hadn't passed out on the spot.

"Iruka, are you alright?" Asuma asked, leaning the man against the wall.

"He...got away again, and what he did to Gai..." Iruka let his head fall back, he had an idea of what Kabuto was capable now. And the idea frightened him, he knew Kabuto's actions would keep getting worse and worse, but honestly Iruka was still most angry for happened before today.

"Calm down." Asuma said reassuringly, he'd never seen Iruka so...mad, what did Kabuto do to make him this way.

"Humph, I'll see you later Kakashi." Zabuza silently walked in the opposite direction "Next time it won't be a draw."

"No more mistakes." Kakashi called out, watching the man head out the same window Kabuto had left, there was no use following. If this was anything like on Orochimaru's Tower he'd disappeared by now. 'If I'm going to be seeing him again...I better find my bomb detector.'

! - ! - !


	15. Chapter 15: Redemption

Chapter 15: Redemption

"Konohamaru, we need to talk, now." Sarutobi walked into Konohamaru's room and shut the door behind him, finding the boy curled up in his bed as usual. "Are you ready to tell me what happened yet?" He sat down on the bed next to the boy, who didn't move an inch.

"..."

"I know you Konohamaru, you barely eat, I can't even tell when your sleeping or not since you barely move at all." Sarutobi sighed, reaching over his grandson's shoulder and forcibly rolling him towards him. "There is something really wrong with you, and you won't tell me what happened so I have no choice but too...Konohamaru?" Sarutobi finally looked at Konohamaru.

He looked as if he was gasping for air but nothing could be heard above the sound of normal breathing. Konohamaru was soaked in sweat and he was undeniably turning red, his left arm seemed to be twitching slightly and his eyes were clinched in a look of pain... "Konohamaru!"

! - ! - !

Naruto sighed, pressing his forehead against the white wall and closed his eyes. The sound of someone speaking over an intercom echoed through out the whole floor and he was surrounded by busy people talking, shifting, moving around him. "Did you find anything out?" Naruto asked, he didn't bother to look up when he spoke.

"They're still running test, they don't know what's wrong with him yet." Iruka rubbed his back comfortingly. "Don't worry about it, he'll be fine."

Naruto snorted, opening his eyes and staring down at the tiled floors bellow, this was Konoha Hospital, an oddly generic name for the best clinic in the country. "Orochimaru did something to him..."

"Well...that's a possibility." Iruka leaned against the wall next to the boy "Don't worry too much, Konohamaru is going to be alright."

"So--" Kakashi's voice radiated from behind the two, making Naruto flinch from the unexpected sound, Iruka was long used to surprise since he frequently dealt with Kakashi. Nothing really could surprise him anymore "--Hear anything on Konohamaru?"

"Do you ever make noise when you walk!" Naruto shouted, turning back and pointing an accusing finger at the man, but then flinching from the sudden movement of his other arm that still was held in a sling.

"Not really." Kakashi said casually, looking up from Naruto to Iruka "Anything?"

Iruka shook his head. "Not yet."

! - ! - !

"I thought I told you not to comeback until you know what's wrong with my grandson." Sarutobi said in annoyment, he was sitting in a waiting room outside of one of the observation rooms. Everyone else was on the other side in a hallway. Sarutobi unfolded his arms and looked up at the doctor that had just come through the door.

"Well, we're not sure completely, a some type of chemical got into his body, we're pretty sure from outside injection." The man spoke solemnly as he looked down at a clipboard in his hand. "It's already circulated through out the whole blood stream and it's taken a gradual amount of time to take effect, so it could have entered his body up to a week ago."

'...Orochimaru.' Sarutobi folded his arms and scowled to himself, that was in the time frame of when Konohamaru was rescued, no doubt Orochimaru was the cause of this.

"Whatever it was caused multiple allergic reactions--"

"Konohamaru's not allergic to anything."

"Yes I know, But that was the effect, hence the redness. The other symptoms, spasms, suffocation, aches, anything else that may happen in the next few hours are all side effects."

"How much worse is it going to get?" Sarutobi asked

"We don't know but we're not going to take any chances right now we're just finishing a dialysis treatment a few antioxidants. I'm going to write him a prescription for Triaceptama, it's a combination of antioxidants to get rid of the chemicals, antibiotics to kill the bacteria that are causing the aches and the breathing problems and some painkillers to actually deal with the pain that's already there. " The doctor paused a moment to check off something on the clipboard "Now there are of course a few side effects but most shouldn't be too severe if at all present for someone his age."

! - ! - !

"No way, what the hell are you doing here." Naruto growled, tensing up to the point where his left arm started to hurt at the sight of Sasuke.

Sasuke looked down and away "You know what I'm doing here."

"You've got some nerve Uchiha, this whole thing is your fault!" Naruto was yelling now, his eyes piercing into Sasuke with a gaze worse then the ones that proceeded it before, He was advancing toward him and didn't even realize it "Your the reason he's here in the first place--"

"Stop it!"

Another unfamiliar voice... no, not unfamiliar, just unexpected. Konohamaru pushed his way through the heavy door separating the hall from the observation room and coming in to view. He was wearing a hospital gown allowing only his arms and lower legs to be seen, small nozzles were protruding from his arms where IVs had been attached. His eyes and expression were somewhat dazed in nature, but held defendant anger, he looked so...weak. "Just stop it already!"

It was silent for a moment...

"Konohamaru, are you ok?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"No!" The boy shouted, but he winced from the pain that came from forcing his throat to make such a loud sound "My body hurts so much I can barely move."

Iruka shook his head "Konohamaru, why are you out of bed? You should be resting...What happened to you?"

"I don't know but..." Konohamaru's forehead cringed in thought, he was out of it, he was confused, he couldn't think. Most likely from whatever medication was being administered to him, but he was mad enough to make his way out here. "I--I..."

"Go back." Kakashi knelt down beside him, giving the boy another quick over look, he'd defiantly been connected on to an IV, the nozzles attached to his body were still wet so those IVs were flowing when he left. Kakashi ran his hand through the boy's hair in a way that always made Konohamaru felt like a little kid when it was done to him, which was quite often, that was when he was completely aware of himself. "You need to be back in there, I'm sure the doctors don't know your gone and your Grandfather probably won't be happy that you left."

Konohamaru nodded, though he stood there for a moment and stared at everyone, his eyes came to rest particularly on Sasuke...Sasuke looked at him, a sadness spreading across his features, no he wasn't just guilty about what he did, he was truly sorry... "Konohamaru...I'm--"

Konohamaru shook his head feverously, hard enough to make himself dizzy "No way, don't even tell me that your sorry! This is..." Konohamaru stopped suddenly, trying to speak though his head was jumbled and all attempts seemed to fail, he just wanted to sleep, at least to get away from this pain. "No...It's not all your fault, but you gave me to..." The boy just stopped and sighed, silently turning back around and heading into the room after one last resentful look to Sasuke.

"Crap, I should have asked him what happened to him." Naruto said, kicking the air lightly in his frustration, then he looked up at Sasuke who was looking at him, then looked away again. "I'll be back later Iruka, I'm not staying while he's here." Naruto called back as he walked off angrily, crossing through the stir of people moving through the floor. It was still so busy here, with all of those people injured from the storm and the fact that this place was still running on generators during a complete black out, why wouldn't it be?

"Hey, Wait a minute!" Sasuke ran after him, slipping through the waves of people and reaching Naruto just in time... only to have two elevator doors close in his face and separate them again. "Damnit!" Sasuke pounded his fist against the door, there was no way he was going to give up, he was going to get Naruto to a least hear him out, and he wouldn't stop until he did.

With that thought in mind he headed for the steps.

"So what do you think?" Kakashi sat down on the ground, resting his back against the wall "Think their going to get back together?"

"Well, Naruto's pretty suborn..." Iruka sighed "But in this case he has a reason to be, and Sasuke couldn't give up on anything if his life depended on it...I think that's what got him into this situation in the first place."

"His brother."

"That or Orochimaru, so..." Iruka let himself ease down to the ground next to Kakashi, careful of his injured side. "Either they are, or they're going to kill each other."

"Hmm..." Kakashi nodded in agreement, letting out a deep breath and relaxing, he needed it. But it seemed the moment his mind became at ease, other things he'd forgotten drifted into his mind. "Iruka, can you do me a favor and get me anything you can find on a man named Momochi Zabuza."

! - ! - !

"You know, I wondered about something." Lee's head tilted up towards the ceiling, staring at the long florescent light that nearly illuminated the entire room. "If there's a black out happening, How can everything be working here?"

"Generators." Shikamaru let his head fall back on to the side of the bed as he glanced at the lights and everything else around this place. "It's amazing, everything that's been designed and created in this time, things people never even dreamed of conceiving. A testament of human ingenuity."

"Yeah your right, I admire the people who invent things." Lee smiled "I wanted to event something, but I couldn't think of anything useful, or that wasn't already made."

A light shifting could be heard from above, Lee and Shikamaru glanced back towards the source, Gai seemed to be waking up...The man groaned lightly as he clinched the white sheets of the hospital bed, slowly opening his eyes and using his grip to sit up. "...uha..." Gai lifted his hand to his forehead and rubbed lightly, besides a pounding headache his ears were ringing, and there was a sharp chill in the air...he didn't have on a shirt and with out the covers over him... "Where...--"

"Gai-sensei, your awake!" Lee sprang on to his feet and to the man's side, "Are you ok? How do you feel?"

Gai glanced over at him, squinting a bit to sharpen his blurry vision. "Lee, Shikamaru? Where am I?"

"The hospital." Shikamaru told him.

Gai looked around, studying his surroundings as if to make sure this was really the place they said it was. 'Hospital...How did I...Oh my god!' "Lee, Shikamaru, Forgive me!" Gai dived forward and wrapped his arms around the both of them in a tight hug, nearly suffocating them both. "I'm so sorry!"

Shikamaru placed his hands on Gai's left shoulder and tried to push him off, a failed attempt, the man was strong, and this effort was useless "Sorry for what?"

"I attacked you, I couldn't control myself! Forgive me please!"

Lee smiled and nodded, not seeming to have any problem with Gai's tight hug "It's alright, Gai-sensei, we understand that. It wasn't your fault"

"Alright! I nearly shot you!"

"I'm ok Gai-Sensei."

"I threw you through an incubator! I set you on fire!"

Lee tilted his head upward as he did when he thought about something "I thought the explosion did it. "

"Trust me, that explosion wasn't accidental... But that's beside the point!"

That was a very...uncomforting thought, but still "It wasn't your fault, we forgive you." Lee said.

"Yeah we forgive you. Just let go." Shikamaru let out a deep breath after Gai finally released him, deciding to get a safe distance away in case Gai wanted to do that again.

Gai gave a small grunt of acknowledgment to Shikamaru, Impulses... bad, remember? Something he tried to instill on himself as well as Lee. Gai laid against the pillows propped up at his back, staring blankly at the ceiling "I don't know what happened but... I remember everything, It was as if my mind was there, but when Kabuto told me to attack you and bring Shikamaru back to him...I couldn't stop myself, it echoed in my head and before I knew it, it was like my own thoughts. "

Shikamaru folded his arms and closed his eyes, a motion he often did when thinking "The needle he hit you with, the tip was coated with some type of chemical that he'd said made you easily manipulated. I can't believe it's possible to create something with an effect like that that isn't a Jutsu."

"We found an antidote though." Lee said "So don't worry about it."

It wasn't that simple, Gai was worried about it, very worried... "Why did he want you Shikamaru...he said something about a source...a source of what?"

"Well, there's only one thing that makes me different from anyone else here. He could have meant a source of Chakra." Shikamaru suggested.

"Chakra huh?...Well be careful, the Sound's after you now..." Gai said with a sigh, things were getting complicated, but there was no use thinking about it now, not yet at least. "You mentioned Jutsu, that reminds me of something I wanted to show you. It's an old scroll with instructions for Jutsu, and a letter that was excavated about 40 years back." Gai paused to remember it correctly "The letter was strange because it mentioned the names Lee and Shikamaru directly, and it was from a person named Kiba. It said it addressed for this exact year, I learned about it in history class back in collage, who knew it'd come in handy..."

Shikamaru and Lee looked at each other, "Kiba...He said he'd burry a letter, I didn't think he meant literally." Lee shrugged.

! - ! - !

The rain didn't surprise him, the ruminants of the storm were still scatted behind in a long trail so rain would be a large part of Konoha for a while to come. Sasuke looked around from just beyond the front door, it was so dark...the only light was from the hospital behind him, everything else was pitch black, not even the moon could bee seen past the dark clouds overcastting the sky. 'Damnit!'

How could anyone willingly go out into this? At lest not with out a flashlight or something to see with, it was freezing out here, and the rain wasn't helping. Sasuke thought about all of that, and the fact he had no idea where Naruto was, and that even a small lead for Naruto in Konoha meant Sasuke was already far behind. Since Naruto knew his way around better then he did, even in the dark. 'He has to be some place...'

Where could he start? '...I can start there...he might go back to that place...'

! - ! - !

It was strange how things happened...Over the last few days he always seem to end up here after he wandered, a habit he couldn't get over yet. It was strange how it happened even though he thought he didn't know where he was going, he couldn't see where was going and he still ended up back here. Naruto stopped when he realize where he was, even though he couldn't see it he knew he was right before the ruins of his home. And just like all the times before it, he just stood there and stared, as if looking for something.

"Naruto!"

Naruto looked back at the mention of his name, it was that voice again, Sasuke. Naruto mentally kicked himself for coming back here as he watch the boy's form come into his vision field, which was about 5 feet. "Damnit! Leave me alone!" Naruto yelled. "Isn't that what you told me to do, leave you alone. And I haven't said a word to you yet."

"Will you just wait a second and listen to me!" Sasuke shouted over the sound of rain pounding into the concrete and whatever materials were in the wreckage, "I've been trying to talk to you for a week."

"Don't you get it!" Naruto found himself advancing on Sasuke again, and he let himself continue "I don't want to talk to you! I don't want to see you, you can just go someplace and die for all I care!"

"I understand that, but I'm sorry." Sasuke said pleadingly, trying to make him listen, trying to make him understand.

"Sorry!" Naruto was now face to face with Sasuke now, looking up at him directly in the eyes since he was shorter. "Sorry? Your not sorry, I may not be a genius like you, but I'm not stupid."

"Naruto, please just--" Sasuke placed both of his hands on Naruto's shoulder, but received a strong punch in the mouth that knocked him back into the large pile of rubble and debris. Naruto jumped in after him, landing on top of Sasuke.

"Why don't you go back with your new boyfriend Orochimaru, We shouldn't have brought you back. We should have just toss your ass off the plane and left." Naruto grabbed Sasuke by his collar making Sasuke flinch, he grabbed Naruto's wrist and kicked him off.

"Damnit why don't you get it, I'm sorry!" Sasuke shouted, wiping away the water streaming into his eyes with his forearm. He grabbed on to a protruding piece of wood and used it to help him stand. "Just listen to me."

Naruto flipped on to his feet, finding himself once again face to face with Sasuke "Listen to you?" Naruto gave Sasuke a strong punch to the stomach making the other boy stumble forward. "Why the hell should I listen to you? Huh?" Naruto shouted, Sasuke placed one foot forward and caught himself, then he wrapped an arm around Naruto's waist and dived forward, driving his shoulder in to the boy's leg and sending both of their bodies tumbling to the ground in a loud crash mixed with loud rainfall and the purple flash of a lighting strike.

"Because I'm trying to apologize!" Sasuke held on to Naruto's shoulders again and held him down, getting a hiss of pain from the pressure on the injured part of his body. Naruto squinted, trying to keep the water running from his hair out of his eyes and wincing from a roll of thunder, Sasuke's body blocked most of the rain.

"So what! What the hell is that suppose to mean?" Naruto drove his knee upward into Sasuke's stomach and rolled to the side, only to find that a large piece of a former concrete wall was blocking his way. "You said a lot of things that weren't true! Like when you said that you loved me, lot of truth that turned out to be. Why should I believe you now?" Naruto reached upward to jagged edge of the slick concrete, getting a grip strong enough to pull himself up with and climb on top of it.

"I know I haven't given you a reason to believe me." Sasuke wrapped one arm around a steel pole and pick himself off a pile of broken wood boards, which he'd broken through. He looked around in the darkness with his arm over his eyes to block the rain, lighting flashed again giving him a snapshot of everything in front of him, but, he still couldn't see Naruto, where was he! Sasuke shook more rain from his hair and wiped his face, still he could see nothing. "Naruto!"

From behind, Naruto jumped from the concrete, sailing through the saturated air with barely a target, "I warned you to leave me alone!" Naruto yelled, just as he landed on Sasuke, knocking him painfully to the ground under his weight "I told you I'd kill you."

Sasuke lifted his head, which had just landed face down in the debris. He was feeling dizzy, the large gash on his head from their previous fight had just been reopened, he could feel the blood start flowing again and was sure his bandages were turning red. There were also other cuts that formed on his face from landing on a metal pole, broken glass, concrete and wood. "No you wont." Sasuke managed to free one hand that pinned under him, he didn't need to wipe the blood from his face, the rain was washing it away for him. "Because you know you still lo--"

"I hate you." Naruto growled angrily. Sasuke winced, that did hurt, that hurt a lot... and that's what he did to Naruto, that's the pain he inflicted on him, and then made it even worse when he told him he loved him just to lower his guard..."I HATE YOU DAMNIT!"

Sasuke threw his only free elbow back and into Naruto's face hard enough to send the boy sprawling off of him. "No! Don't tell me that! I'm telling you I'm sorry Naruto, just believe me." Sasuke lifted himself on to his hands and knees and crawled over to the fallen Naruto.

"Why should I!" Naruto snorted, trying to kick Sasuke away. Sasuke caught his leg, sliding it safely under his arm and continued crawling over Naruto wile taking a few kicks in his attempt.

Sasuke reached forward and grabbed another pipe just beyond Naruto's head, and using it to pull himself completely over Naruto with the other boy's leg still under his arm. "Because I love you... I know you still love me too."

! - ! - !  
! - ! - !

6 years ago...

Naruto taped his foot against the leg of his chair subconsciously, leaning forward with this elbows propped up on the table, staring down at a bowl of ramen in front of him. He stirred the noodles around, watching them cut through the liquid, making subtle splits in the broth.

Sasuke walked out of the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, this time wet from the shower he'd just taken. '...' Sasuke stood at the doorway, looking at Naruto who'd he'd never seen stall to eat Ramen in his life let alone play with it. 'What's with him?'

He noticed everything was like he'd left it an hour ago, the small pools of water were still lining the floor from when he'd come home. Naruto's coat was still on the chair opposite of the seemingly distracted boy, only there was food stocking the shelves now which was most likely because of a visit from Iruka. "What's with you Dobe?" Sasuke asked, deciding to forget the fact he was half naked with only a towel, not like it really mattered.

"Huh?" Naruto looked up at Sasuke "Oh, nothing."

"Yeah right, you were wining all day that you were hungry cause' you missed lunch. Which was your fault for getting us in detention anyway, and your just not hungry now? Your always hungry." Sasuke said, glancing toward the window where the soft sounds of the beginnings of rain hitting taping the transparent barrier distracted him momentarily.

It was raining that day too

"I wasn't wining." Naruto looked up from his bowl with a slightly annoyed expression on his face, that suddenly changed in to one which carried an idea or realization "Are you calling me greedy?"

"No, but you are." Sasuke snorted.

"No I'm not!" Naruto shouted.

"The hell you aren't dobe." Sasuke pointed a finger at Naruto's stomach, "Your like a pit, a bottomless pit."

Naruto abruptly stood up, nearly knocking over his chair in the process. His fist slammed down on the table and he leaned forward. "Whatever you selfish jerk."

Sasuke pushed himself up and leaned forward, glaring at Naruto. "I'm not selfish, I was just trying to see what was wrong with you!"

"You insulted me!"

"Stop being so sensitive dead-last!"

"Jerk!"

"Dobe."

"Bastard."

Naruto and Sasuke growled at each other, staring at the other with piercing eyes, then folding his arms and turning their backs to each other. "Tch." Sasuke snorted.

"Whatever." Naruto rolled his eyes..."Hey Sasuke."

"What is it?" Sasuke glanced over his shoulder.

"I think I like you."

"Huh?" Sasuke turned around completely and looked over Naruto, who'd already sat back down. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I think I like you." Naruto placed his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands above the bowl of ramen.

"...R-Really?" Sasuke sat down and looked up at him carefully "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I started feeling all weird when you came." Naruto's eyes shifted towards the window in thought, watching the water stream down the other side of the glass in a hypnotic blur. Then he shrugged "I didn't know what it was but I think I figured it out."

Sasuke rubbed the back of his head nervously, "You really like me? Me?"

"Uh-huh." Naruto nodded.

Sasuke stood up and leaned over the table, bringing himself face to face with Naruto who was looking up at him questioningly. "Don't play with me dobe."

"I'm not." Naruto said "Why would I lie you bas--" Naruto was cut off by Sasuke's lip pressing to his roughly and his tongue being thrust in forcefully, Naruto nearly fell backwards and would have if Sasuke's arm wouldn't have wrapped around his neck. He looked up with eyes wide at Sasuke...a small moan escaped from his mouth and his eyes drifted closed, Naruto stood up and leaned forward into the kiss...his first kiss.

"Whoa!" Naruto pulled away, feeling short of breath and as if his heart had just run a 10 mile marathon with out him. It made him feel strangely light headed. "That was amazing."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Sasuke sat back down in his chair "I've been waiting to do that for a month, it's about time."

"A month, why didn't you tell me?"

Sasuke just closed his eyes, a sharp chill coming from the closed window. He really didn't know why he didn't say anything, he was afraid maybe, but he would have said something sooner or later anyway. "Huh?"

There was a small click, followed by the lights flickering, and then cutting off all together. "Great! Now the powers off." Naruto could be heard placing his head on the table.

"That means you can't open the refrigerator." Sasuke said, Naruto could practically feel him smirking in the darkness. "Not until it comes back on."

"Shut up, that's not funny."

"Yes it is."

"Well, that means you can't see..." Naruto paused to think for a moment "And if you can't see you can't put on your clothes."

"That's not funny."

"Yes it is."

! - ! - !  
! - ! - !

"No I don't!" Naruto punched Sasuke in the side of his face with his good arm.

Sasuke head butted him in the forehead and wrapped his hands around Naruto's head, forcing him to look at him directly. "Can you look me in the eye, and honestly say that you don't love me!" He shouted, staring at Naruto with an unwavering gaze.

"..." Naruto's eyes narrowed and looked away, pushing Sasuke away with his good arm and kneeing him in the chest.

"After all we've been through, do you still love me?"

"...So what! That still doesn't change what you did!"

"I know that, and I'm sorry." Sasuke scrabbled to his feet at the same time as Naruto, bringing them eye to eye again "But I can look you in the eye and say I love you. And...I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking..." Sasuke watched as Naruto turned his back and kicked a metal pipe as he walked away. "No, I do know what I was thinking, and it wasn't worth it! So just tell me what do I have to do to make it up to you?"

Naruto stopped, clinching his fist tightly and letting his head drop. Water ran down his face, down his back, and streamed from his body and long rivers, and he was sure he'd never been so cold and so hurt in his life. "..."

Sasuke ran after him, grabbing his shoulder, but Naruto pulled away. "I don't know what else to say but I'm sorry, I know that doesn't make up for what I did but I want to know how."

"..." Naruto was still silent, unmoving, thankful for the rain on his face at that moment, that way he could hide...

"Naruto. Just say something to me." Both of them stood there silently in the rain, every second Sasuke was waiting...

"...You hate me."

"No I--"

"That's what you told me, and then you told me you loved me, just to throw me off of a fucking building. Did you really want me to die that much? How can you say you love me after something like that."

" I don't--"

Naruto turned around "Don't tell me you don't know, don't tell me you we're lying. You meant everything you said!"

"...Ok, I did." Sasuke said "I meant it when I said I loved you, and when I said I hated you...even though I said it to you, I didn't mean I hate you. I hated a lot of things, I hated my self, I hated what I became...and I guess I just directed it at you."

Naruto paused for a moment, just staring at Sasuke... "You said you hated other things..." Naruto looked around, still unable to see anything else except for a few bare things around him and Sasuke. That's when he realized he was standing here, in wreckage, in the freezing rain in the middle of the night. He was cold, he was wet, he was hurt, and he was mad. "I knew you never liked anything, was it enough to make you do it, was I enough to make you do that?"

"It was me, I saw my brother and I realized how..." Sasuke looked up, shaking the water from his face and then back down at Naruto "It doesn't matter, it's not important..." Sasuke had just realized something... 'Damnit Itachi, I'm not going to be your puppet!'

"This can't happen Sasuke." Naruto could barely be heard above the rain now that he was talking normally, the boy held on to the same concrete wall as before and eased himself down on to the ground. Rubbing his left arm since it had taken so much damage during the fight that the sling itself was barely holding it up. "We need to find a way to fix us, and not just for right now."

Sasuke stood above him, waiting a lot more patiently now that Naruto was actually willing to work this out. Why was it? Was Naruto really that good of a person, did he love him that much? Damnit how could he have hurt someone like him?

"We're always going to have hard times." Naruto lifted his head, and just for a second, a brief moment, Sasuke could see that...Naruto was crying, actually crying. "So right now, tell me 7 reasons why you love me, why we're still here, why this is still worth while even after everything."

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow..."7?"

"Yeah!" Naruto yelled. "And I have to believe every one of them!"

Sasuke rubbed the back of his head as he stared down at Naruto, he couldn't lie to Naruto if his life depended on it... He could do this, there were plenty of things he loved about Naruto. Naruto was so-- 'Stop thinking them and say them!' Sasuke yelled to himself "I...Love the way you get mad at everything I call you...I love the fact that your an obnoxious brat. I love the way you get excited over Ramen and how you always sleep in class."

Naruto lifted his arm and wiped his face "Ok, that last one counts for two. You got two more."

"I love the way you always have that stupid smirk on your face when you win, or after we-"

"Watch it."

Sasuke knelt down in front of him, their eyes meeting agian. "Is that 7?"

Naruto looked up at him and thought for a second "I'll call it even, I don't think I can handle another one."

Sasuke took a deep breath and leaned forward, pressing his lips against Naruto's, slowly and in an uncharacteristically timid way he slid his tongue into Naruto's mouth. Naruto watched Sasuke for a moment...slowly but surely he closed his eyes. "Sasuke."

Sasuke smiled and pulled away "Come on, I'm freezing."

"What? Come on where?"

"You'll see when we get there."

! - ! - !

"Well..." Iruka looked down carefully at the computer sitting in his lap, pressing a few more keys before stopping again. "It wasn't easy--"

"It was kinda quick though." Kakashi crossed the white tile floors and sat down next to the man "An hour, that's not half bad."

"You always attract the strangest people, and your friend Momochi Zabuza is an interesting one. You want the long version or the short one?"

Kakashi shrugged "Short."

"Ok." Iruka nodded and press a few buttons "What I just did wasn't exactly legal so you owe me... I guess I start here...Zabuza killed all of his classmates when he was 12, he tried to assassinate Mizukage and take over the Mist Country, failed horribly, currently wanted by them. With a lot of carried animosity, he's described as sociopathic...I guess you'd have to be to kill that many people when your that young."

"He's not a sociopath, he just has sociopathic tendencies." Kakashi looked off in to the distance, thinking, wondering... "Make it a little longer."

"Well's he's been known to work with a younger man by the name of Haku, noted with some interesting abilities..." Iruka paused, as if he didn't understand what he was reading.

"What do you mean by interesting?"

"Interesting as in the ability to use Chakra like Shikamaru can. Haku may have come from the past too..." Iruka told him.

"Hmm..." 'That must have been who he was talking about when he said Orochimaru took someone from him.'

Iruka read a little farther. "There was an unconfirmed rumor that Zabuza allied with a terrorist organization under the a man named Gataou, for funding I assume, trying to pull off a job like that has to be expensive."

"Hm...Figures." Kakashi sighed and shrugged "Thanks Iruka, I don't need any more." Well, Zabuza always was a little off, and had a tendency to try and blow things up almost impatiently. But was he really like they said he was? He didn't seem that way, if Zabuza was a sociopath then he would have blown up Orochimaru's towers even if Kakashi hadn't asked him to wait. And one of them would surely be dead by now since Zabuza would have tried to kill him the first time they met.

Still, Zabuza does seem like the person to do something like that, and all of it couldn't be lies. Maybe exaggerations but ever exaggeration had some bases in truth.

Kakashi would have to--

beep, beep, beep

A set of beeps came from the phone in his pocket. Kakashi questingly retrieved it and looked over it, another e-mail with an openly obvious fake address.

'Still haven't figured it out yet? There is still the possibility of evil for Konoha from the Sound, at the Konoha Hospital.'

'Wait...is this serous!' Kakashi reread the text, debating with himself 'But the last one was real...Damnit!' "Iruka, I'm not sure but something might be happening here... "

"What do you mean?" Iruka asked, taking the phone from Kakashi... "Is this real?"

"I don't know, but it was last time and I'm not going to take any chances." Kakashi put the phone back into his pocket and used a nearby door knob to get to his feet "Go see if you can get some backup."

Iruka watched in confusion as Kakashi move with haste towards the elevator, usually Iruka would have dismissed something like this as a joke but if Kakashi thought it was serous... "Alright, I'll do what I can."

! - ! - !

Kakashi let out a deep breath as he leaned against the back wall of the elevator that descended from the 7th floor towards the 3rd. "Hmm..."

click, click, click.

Kakashi looked up towards the ceiling and the source of the sound...before he could even begin to think of what it was, the door rolled open to the flurry of people moving around busily...so many people were here, it was one of the few places with power and that hadn't been destroyed by the storm, a natural gathering place. Kakashi slipped and pushed his way through almost blindly to the desk a few feet away, where a woman on the other side was working. "Which room is Maito Gai in?"

The woman looked up from the phone call she was making and what ever she was writing, "Let me see...Room 302."

Kakashi immediately tore himself away from the desk and ran past it, again forcing his way through the crowds of people to a room a few more feet from the desk. Kakashi opened the door and closed it again behind him. "Gai."

Gai, laying in the bed with his arms resting behind his head, looked towards Kakashi. Lee and Shikamaru were near by as they had been for the past day since Gai was admitted. "Kakashi? What's wrong." Gai immediately noticed when Kakashi wasn't serous, not everyone could really tell, and it usually meant something was wrong.

"Remember that e-mail I showed you?"

"Yes."

"I got another one." Kakashi tossed him the phone, which Gai was unexpectant of and barley caught.

Gai looked over it carefully "...What! Here?"

"Yeah, we have a problem. So I need to barrow your car."

Gai looked at him for a moment "My car?...Wait, how could you be thinking about leaving when this place is in danger?"

"Remember last time? I need to go pick up my body armor and weapons."

Gai sighed and reached over to the nightstand next to his bed "Alright, here!" He tossed the keys to Kakashi, "Shikamaru, Lee, go look around for anyone suspicious. I'm going to get dressed."


	16. Chapter 16: The Possibility of evil part...

Chapter 16: The Possibility of evil part 2

'?' Konohamaru was abruptly brought back to conciseness by a hard shake and the sound of his name being called "Wha..." Konohamaru opened his eyes to the blurry vision of blue orbs "Na-Naruto?" Konohamaru lifted his hand and rubbed his eyes softly, with slightly sharper vision he was able to see Sasuke standing behind Naruto. "What the hell are you doing here!" He yelled, pointing an accusing finger towards the dark haired boy, one in instant furry.

"Kono--"

"Get out!" Konohamaru yelled, folding his arms and rolling to the side so that his back was turned "Why the hell did you come here in the first place. Screwed up the first time so you want to give it a second try. "

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other, Naruto could only shrug and lift his hands in defeat. Naruto couldn't do anything about this, and of course he knew Sasuke had it coming. Sasuke sighed as he walked over to the bed side "Konohamaru listen to me, I know your mad at me--"

"Mad!" If Konohamaru could think of a word worse then that he would have said it, Sasuke put him through hell, mad didn't cover it. He sighed and turned over even farther. "Just go."

"I'm sorry but now isn't the time." Sasuke said.

Konohamaru turned around and glared at Sasuke, his fist clinched so tightly that his arm shook "Sorry? The hell you are. Your not sorry! You can't be sorry for what you did to me. You GAVE me to Orochimaru, you beat me up and then you gave me to him." Konohamaru's glare grew more piercing and angry, and his fist was clinched to tightly that his nails it drew blood in the palm of his head. "He tortured me! He killed Ebisu! And Ebisu was just...he.."

Konohamaru's eyes shut and he punched Sasuke across the face as hard as he could "It's your fault! You Bastard! He didn't have to die if you didn't tell Orochimaru where I was!" Konohamaru lunged at Sasuke, the IV's and tubes ripping from his body as he did so. Sasuke grabbed him by his shoulders and slammed him back down on to the bed, holding the flailing boy with as much strength as he could mange.

"Konohamaru listen to me!" Sasuke yelled in a voice that demanded attention, looking down strait into his eyes so deeply that Konohamaru didn't even notice the water dripping on him from Sasuke's hair. "I know it was horrible what I did and I'm sorry, I've never been more sorry in my life. But right now you have to get out of here, It's dangerous. So please, if all the year's we've been friends mean anything, just listen to me this one time and get out of here." he pleaded. "Just this one time and you don't have to look at me again if you don't want to. But you have to get out of here."

"All of those year's we were friends didn't seem to mean anything to you. Why should it mean anything to me?"

That hurt. "..."

Konohamaru looked up at Sasuke, seeing how sad he looked right now...he hated it, he hated seeing Sasuke look like this, just as much as he hated him right now. It was a horrible position, half of him hated Sasuke and half of him still loved him, that made him feel even worse. Sasuke was still putting him through hell...Konohamaru pushed Sasuke off of him, feeling uneasy from the blood over his body where the IV's and tubes had been tore from him. "Fine."

! - ! -

"Wow, you sure took your time." Gai said, fully dressed in his black uniform, and sitting in wait in his room. Lee and Shikamaru still hadn't returned from their duties of looking around, it wasn't an easy job with this many people roaming around one of the only places that had power in the city, after a massive storm, which meant crowded ensured. "4 hours to get back."

Kakashi tossed Gai his bullet proof vest, his M4A1 rifle and his car keys ."If you had been out there you would see why." Kakashi said, he had his own EDO bomb suit on, and a pair of handguns with laser sights plus an equipped flashlight holstered at his side. Since he focused manly on speed he didn't carry around large or slow weapons, and noticeably he had his bomb detector, which was on, and any other number of tools under the suit. "Has Iruka gotten back yet?"

"Not yet, are you sure this is going to happen?"

The door opened hastily and Iruka emerged with Azuma following behind, then he pushed it shut "Kakashi? Your back..." Iruka moved quickly over to him, completely out of breath "I couldn't get anyone else."

"The army, even police and emergency units are stretched to their limits." Asuma told them "So we can't call in back up on a suspicion, we need to know for sure that something is happening."

"Damnit." Kakashi narrowed his visible eye, "We can't cover this whole hospital with this many people by ourselves."

The door opened again and Sasuke entered, followed by Naruto. They found out about the situation from Iruka and decide to come along, mainly upon the motive to warn Konohamaru. "Kakashi." Naruto walked up to the older man specifically "I just saw Lee and Shikamaru on the way up, they said that saw some guy dressed in black, black hair, has a mask over his face and a forehead protected on. They said you were with him before."

"Zabuza's here?" Kakashi looked down in surprise, why would he be-- of course. "What floor?"

"Fourth I think." Naruto said unsurely.

"Why are you getting so anxious?" Asuma asked.

"Because Zabuza's after Orochimaru, and the only reason he would be here--"

"Is if Orochimaru was here." Iruka's eye twitched slightly, when he heard Zabuza he knew something was seriously off. "That, or someone working for him...like Kabuto."

Asuma looked over at Iruka, he could see anger starting to rise in the man's usually calm nature. 'Whoa...what did Kabuto do to him?' If he had to guess he'd say it happened sometime around his rescue mission to the Sound country. '...I better go with him.' "We better find him then, there are too many people around as it is. Iruka."

Iruka nodded "Yeah, let's get going." He agreed, leaving with Asuma.

Kakashi retrieved his bomb detector from his waist, "I'm going to find Zabuza." He said scarcely to Gai before he left himself.

Gai stood up, strapping the riffle around his back. "Right, Then I better get to Kabuto."

"Hey wait!" Naruto called out, before Gai could leave himself. "What about us?"

Gai glanced back at the two... "Stay together and keep an eye out for Kabuto or anyone suspicious."

! - ! - !

Kakashi slipped and pushed his way through anyone in his way, he didn't have time to waste, not when Zabuza was involved. Kakashi reached forward, pushing another person out of his way to get into the open and empty elevator, then closing the door before anyone else could step inside. He really didn't have time to delay by stopping on other floors for--

_Beep, beep, beep_

Kakashi looked down at his bomb detector, "...According to this, I'm standing right on top of a bomb?" Kakashi looked down, he didn't see anything, which only could mean that he was still somehow above one or under it... Kakashi looked up, just barely seeing the outline of a hatch. 'Of course.' Kakashi climbed on to the railings against the back of the elevator and pushed open a much heavier then it looked hatch to revel the dark inner workings of the elevator shaft.

Just barely able to see a faint red light, Kakashi upholstered one of his guns and flipped the small switch on the side of the handle that turned on the flashlight under the barrel. He saw a small box set just next to the levy for the cables, "Basic, none resistant explosive." Kakashi fired a shot directly into the center of the bomb, watching it spark a few times and go off line. 'Too easy Zabuza.' Kakashi thought to himself, closing the hatch and jumping back down into the elevator.

With that done he pressed the restart button to get the elevator going again. 'I'm sure he did this for a reason...but he did kill those men at the construction site...And at Orochimaru's towers, but dose that really count?' Kakashi sighed and leaned back against the back wall. Unfortunately before he could think to deeply about this, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a bell ring and the sound of the elevator door rolling open, Kakashi pushed himself off the wall hastily and lifted his handgun just as the doors opened. Only to find himself staring into the barrels of a shotgun, the first thing he noticed was that the barrels were shorter then they should have been, the second thing was that Zabuza was holding it to his face just as he was doing.

Zabuza lowered the shotgun and stepped inside, hitting a random button before people could get too alarmed. "What's with the shotgun, gave up on bombs already?" Kakashi inquired playfully. "Because that last one was crap."

"Not at all." Zabuza laid the shotgun over his shoulder, he had on a side pack that extended down the side of his legs to his knees. No telling what he had inside that wasn't visible. "I thought you were Kabuto, lucky you disarmed it before I did." He clearly meant detente it

"Zabuza, you can't do this." Kakashi took a more stern voice with him this time. "It's a hospital full of people, if I didn't get in this elevator at the right time, then a lot of people could have gotten hurt."

"Collateral Damage." Zabuza said, closing his eyes. He could feel that unfavorable look from Kakashi on him, making him open one eye and glance sideways at him "But...I'm not trying to kill other people."

'Are you that focused on getting to Orochimaru?' Kakashi sighed, yeah, he could tell everything Iruka had told him was true. He could see Zabuza did have some... tendencies. It was just that Zabuza didn't seem like that type of person to kill indiscriminately, or at least not now. At least not around him...--, Kakashi was once again knocked out of his train of thought as the bell sounded and the doors rolled open to a long white hallway. "Zabuza, what floor did you hit?"

Zabuza looked up, "Apparently L2--" Zabuza stopped mid sentence when he saw 3 men emerge from a door down the hall, all of them carrying a box. Zabuza elbowed Kakashi in the side, prompting him to pay attention as he pointed ahead. "Pay attention, notice anything ?"

"They're warring plane clothes, coming out of a restricted area." Kakashi could tell by the sign on the door "Carrying out equipment and they don't have id's. Think they're lost?"

Zabuza smirked as he cocked the sawed-off shotgun "Let's go give them some directions then." Zabuza took a step back and then ran forward, Kakashi couldn't help but notice how fast he was as he went after him. "Drop it!" Zabuza called out.

The three men looked at him, and his weapon, and did as he said, only they picked up a few handguns and started firing. Kakashi felt an impact on his chest where a bullet struck his vest, but he didn't stop, he just ran forward, drawing both handguns from their holster. "Let me guess, stealing stuff for Kabuto?" Kakashi crouched down as he ran, just barely feeling another bullet slide by his head as he approached the first man. Kakashi drove his elbow in to the man's stomach and his arm upward, pressing the handgun under the man's chin in one swift motion. "Drop it."

Apparently the man wasn't so compliant, he tried to lift the gun and Kakashi pulled the trigger, pushing the man's body away.

Zabuza jumped into the air, pulling his leg back and kicking the gun from another Sound soldier's hand, spinning around completely while still in the air and kicking him in the chest. The man fell back against the wall and in a second Zabuza was on him, grabbing him by his shoulder and pulling the man against his body just in time to use him as a shield against the third. Zabuza lifted the shotgun toward the only man remaining. "Now, are you going to tell us where Kabuto is or do I have to get it out of you?"

The man froze...the his face contorted in anger "I'm not telling you anything." The man lifted the gun again, only to have 2 large, bloody holes blown in his chest from shotgun shells.

Kakashi shrugged and knelt down next to one of the boxes "Subtle. Now let's see what they were trying to take" He said, opening the box and shifting around inside, "Looks like machinery, parts from equipment. What could Kabuto--"

"Kakashi! Pay attention!" Zabuza yelled, running towards him with two shotgun shell's in his mouth trying to reload. After that everything seemed to move in slow motion for Kakashi, his mind seemed to go faster then his body and his eyes in an eerie way. Kakashi started to turn back as Zabuza rushed to open the chamber and shove the bullet's in place. Zabuza saw it, another man coming from the same door so stealthily that he barely caught a glimpse of it, this man with a Mac 11 Sub-machine gun that was lifting it towards Kakashi's head so quickly.

Zabuza shoved the rounds inside, flipping the barrels up and pulling the slide as fast as he could, so fast that Kakashi had just turned around enough to see the man and was just reacting. Zabuza pulled the trigger, and the man leaned back and watch as a large imprint tore into the wall behind him, he missed, Zabuza missed! Kakashi lifted his guns but while he was still raising his weapons the man already had his aimed at his head and pulled the trigger.

Just barely, Zabuza dived in front of Kakashi, feeling bullet's tearing into his left shoulder and trailing down his abdomen before he even realized it. Kakashi fired rapidly and blindly under Zabuza's flying body, emptying his ammunition before Zabuza could even hit the ground. When it was all over the fourth man had fallen back into them room where he'd come from, and Zabuza was laying next to Kakashi with 4 bullets in him.

"Zabuza?" Kakashi scurried over him, placing his hand on Zabuza's chest to hold him down while he checked over his wounds. "You just saved me."

"I realize that Kakashi." Zabuza snorted annoyedly. His voice was normal as if the pain didn't even effect him, but he wouldn't keep still so Kakashi could see it was. "Don't read too much into it, I knew what I was getting into when I came here. And I'm in a _hospital_, I wasn't too worried about getting shot."

Kakashi shook his head and smirked, "Yeah yeah, thank you anyway, you crazy bastard."

"Cocky aren't we."

! - ! - !

Naruto and Sasuke pushed there way up from the doorway into the eastern part of the 10th floor. Naruto stopped "Wait, Wait!" He fell back against the wall, clinching his chest tightly "I can't...run anymore!"

"Come on Dobe." Sasuke prompted.

Naruto looked up at him. "We just ran around 10 floors and 10 flights of stairs, and your not tired. Are you kidding me?" he managed to get out between pants. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

They both glanced to the side as they barely heard the elevator door open over the roar of people. Asuma emerged alone, looking around precedingly before he continued, "Naruto, Sasuke? Find anything?"

"No." Sasuke told him. "I'm guessing neither did you."

Asuma shook his head "Not a thing, Iruka and I split up on the 11th floor, he should be on the other side of this--"

Two gunshots rang out in the air, getting startled screams from the people around them. Naruto, Asuma, and Sasuke looked at each other, then started pushing their way through the crowds to get to the source.

"Umino Iruka, didn't think we'd meet again so soon." Kabuto adjusted his glasses with his index finger as he looked upon Iruka a few feet away, a gun lifted towards him while Iruka stared at him with a look mixed with anger and uncertainty.

"Why are you here?" Iruka growled, he couldn't seem to contain himself around Kabuto, a simple tell of his weakness. Kabuto was calm and cool, and Iruka was neither.

"Of course I can't tell you everything." Kabuto smirked, "But I can tell you your in my way, so I suggest you, and your friends." Kabuto pointed behind him, Iruka glanced back at Asuma, Naruto and Sasuke, who were trying to get to Kabuto. "Clear out be fore a few innocent bystanders get hurt."

"No!" Iruka shouted "Don't, there's no point in hurting other people."

"Last chance." Kabuto warned. "Now."

Iruka took a deep breath then fired a shot at him. "Kabuto--"

Kabuto stepped to the side as turned the gun towards a woman at a desk and shot her in the head. "Damnit Iruka, I don't have time for this move now!"

Asuma jumped over the desk and to the woman's side, hoping that Kabuto would have missed though he didn't and he knew it. Asuma drew his own gun from his holder but before he could even aim Kabuto stopped him "I wouldn't do that, you may kill me, but how many of these civilians do you think will follow that woman, let along from you trying to hit me."

"Kabuto you bastard." Iruka had to stop his hand from shaking...

Kabuto jumped and dived to the side when he felt a small displacement of air behind him, landing behind another desk and out of sight. He just avoided Kakashi, who would have ordinarily caught him if he wasn't holding Zabuza up. "You just keep getting lower and lower don't you." Kakashi used all of his strength and speed to get out of the way with Zabuza and avoid Kabuto's fire.

"Damnit." Kabuto ducked back down below the desk to reload, he'd lost contact with the team who was supposed to be taking what he needed from this place, he figured they were dead by the injured state of Zabuza. Things didn't go well, he had to get out of here, this mission was a failure. "I need to get out of here--" He was interrupted by a soft beeping "...Here...it can't be here?"

"What are we waiting for!" Naruto yelled, "We have to get him now!"

"It's not that simple." Asuma told him, watching carefully from behind the shielding of the desk while people tried to get as far away as possible. "Kabuto can just attack randomly, it doesn't matter if he hits anyone else. But we have to do what we can to protect these people from him, so we have to be careful not to provoke another attack like this needlessly and not to hit any bystanders."

"So what do we do?" Naruto asked.

"Asuma, Take care of Zabuza." Kakashi slowly walked the injured man over to Asuma and transferred him over to him. "I'm going around."

Asuma nodded as he watched Kakashi moved as inconspicuously as he could toward the stairs so that he could come up the other side "Be careful."

Kabuto looked up from the desk, gun in one hand and a small detector in the other. He pointed it towards the group, over each member until it started beeping faster "The second source...is Naruto?" Kabuto stared at the boy for a moment, they'd had him, he escaped, and he was a source of Chakra they needed and didn't know it. Very ironic. 'Damnit!'

He couldn't stay here, Kabuto had to go now. "I can't wait any longer." Kabuto crouched down and ran past the desk towards the opposite stairway "Later Iruka."

"Kabuto!" Iruka wasted no time going after him, no matter how foolish it may have been."

"Iruka wait!" Asuma tried to catch him, but he found he had problems of his own. Apparently there was a reason Kabuto decide to leave at this exact moment.

"Asuma." Sasuke stopped the man before he could go after Iruka "Kabuto has back up." He pointed out 6 to 8 men who were coming directly for them.

"Damnit!" Asuma turned back with gun drawn, and as soon as he was seen, the men scattered out of sight. Asuma had the feeling this wouldn't be easy. "Zabuza."

"Yeah, I know." Zabuza waved him off, lifting the shotgun to who ever would take it, he wouldn't be able to use it.

Sasuke handed it to Naruto, who immediately noticed the big disadvantage "What about you?" Naruto asked.

"I'll get my own."

Asuma looked around carefully "Alright, everyone is just about gone so the only thing you have to worry about is yourselves. Don't go into the patient's room, we don't need to draw attention to them. Zabuza, can you--"

"You don't want me to help you." Zabuza said "Trust me...But..." Zabuza reached into his side pack and retrieved a smoke bomb. Drawing it back he tossed it over the desk, watching a cloud of black smoke billowing over "Your Konoha soldiers, this should help you."

"Heh." Naruto jumped over the desk "Suit's me just fine."

! - ! - !

Kakashi kicked open the door to the 9th floor, finding people scattering in an attempt to get away from the danger. Gunshots rang through the air freely, making Kakashi alert 'This is going to be harder then I thought, I might lose Kabuto...' Kakashi pressed his back against the wall and moved cautiously '!' Kakashi rounded the corner with guns drawn towards who ever was on the other side, he found himself staring at a riffle, Gai's riffle. "Gai."

"They took him." Gai yelled out angrily, removing the weapon from Kakashi's face and looking around hastily.

"Who?"

"Shikamaru."

A body flew past them, breaking through the doorway and down a flight of stairs before a wall stopped it, Lee followed, throwing a man over his shoulder and delivering one last punch to him before he got out of range. "He used up all of his Chakra trying to protect all of these people..." Lee said desperately.

"They hit him with some type of tranquilizer." Gai told him, which had happened when Shikamaru was too weak to notice. "Damnit we can't wait any longer!" Gai forcefuly pulled out an empty clip, taking another one from his vest and loading it. With a fierce impulse, Gai ran out in to the open, drawing fire his way immediately.

"Gai! You can't just--" It was no use, Gai _was_ highly impulsive, especially when angry, "Lee, stay--"

"Not a chance!" Lee immediately ran after Gai with a growl of anger, obviously just as impulsive. But with good reason, Shikamaru.

"It had to happen anyway." Kakashi ran past Lee, mainly to draw fire away from the un protected boy, and caught up with Gai. "Take the left."

! - ! - !

Naruto dived forward over the counter, hitting the ground right behind one of the blind men in a blue bullet proof vest baring the sound ensign. He rolled on to his side and jumped to the air as silently as he could, landing on the man's back and firing right into his head at point blank range. That immediately drew other's attention to him, he could hear foot steps coming towards him, so he moved quickly. "Sasuke!" Naruto retrieved the fallen handgun and tossed it towards Sasuke while he moved in the opposite direction.

Asuma was much more inconspicuous, leaving any of his arms he'd carried back with Zabuza, he took a more direct approach. Keenly aware of his surroundings, Asuma crept up behind one of the unsuspecting men, grabbing him by the head and snapping his neck with out gaining as much as a sound from him. Pushing the body aside, Asuma crouched down, waiting patiently as another person moved blindly through the smoke towards him. Asuma, long use to smoke, was unaffected while this man couldn't keep from coughing. He was stumbling closer...closer...right there...Asuma's eyes shifted back as another one of Kabuto's men nearly ran into him from behind. 'Damnit.'

"I found one!" The man called out, pressing the gun to Asuma's head, Asuma pivoted around quickly, sweeping his foot across the ground into the legs of the man and kicked him to the ground. The second man came from behind just as Asuma got to his feet, with no time to turn around, Asuma sent a swift kick into the man's chin, giving him enough time to revolve so that he was face to face with him.

Asuma drove his elbow into the man's stomach, forcing him to keel over, grabbing him by the shoulders and throwing him into the wall. 'Hmm...' Asuma paused for a moment, with the feeling he forgot something...now he remembered, Asuma threw his fist backwards over his shoulder, knocking out the man that tried to creep up on him before. 'So that only leaves...'

He heard a few gunshots nearby as the smoke started to clear away and let light through. 'None.' It was clear Sasuke and Naruto had taken out the rest of them, so there was no reason to stay "Stay with him." Asuma said, indicating Zabuza. He ran past them, trying to catch up with Iruka, only to find another set of men in his way "Damnit I don't have time for this!"

Naruto ran over to him "Hold on."

! - ! - !

Iruka tiredly pushed his way through the open door way on the final flight of stairs inside of the hospital, he found himself standing on the roof. Kabuto had been much faster then he had, so he was far behind, about a half-minute difference.

Iruka lifted his arm over his eyes, feeling a heavy rain falling from above and a burst of wind coming from his left side. A helicopter lay in the darkness, barely able to be seen but clearly heard, and Kabuto waiting at the other side of the building. 'Why is he still here? Why hasn't he left yet...'

"Thought I'd run into you again." Kabuto knelt down next to a large steel case sitting by his leg. "There seems to have been a change of plans, you see, we've just intercepted something very special that's well worth the risk of sticking around a few more moments. And seeing as your the only person in the way..." Kabuto opened the case and retrieved what appeared to be a weapon from what Iruka could see, but after a few second of careful study, Iruka could see exactly what it was. How could he forget it, it was the Railgun Kabuto had used against him the first time they fault. It nearly killed him, and that was an indirect hit.

Kabuto gave a small nod to the helicopter, watching the aircraft descend out of sight before he lifted large weapon towards Iruka "This is the end for you, it's time I get rid of you once and for all Umino Iruka." A high pitched sound resonated and sparks could be seen building in the barrel of the weapon as a shot charged.

'!' Iruka immediately dived to the side as a bolt of static lighting shot from the Railgun, flying past him and into the doorway he'd just emerged from. A swift explosion followed, and unexpectedly Naruto's body came flying through in a rush of flames and debris. "Uhhaaaa!"

"Naruto!" Iruka drew out his handgun and fired at Kabuto, trying his best to keep him at bay while he ran to Naruto. The pathway collapsed around the boy, taking out a flight of stairs with it and completely blocking their path back down. Iruka grabbed him roughly and picked him up off the ground and dived behind what looked like an air conditioner unit. "What are you doing here!" Iruka peeked his head over his shield and quickly pulled it back down, followed by a bolt of electricity, a stray spark of lighting coming down and striking the man from the range and how close he was. Iruka cringed and grunted in pain...'AAArrgggg!'

Naruto rubbed the back of his head "Asuma's still down there, I think he got hit!"

Iruka opened his eyes, 'No!' "Is he alright!"

"I don't know, Kakashi, him and Gai were on their way up, they said Kabuto captured Shikamaru and they had a plan to get him back but..." Naruto's voice trailed off as he looked at the caved in rubble where he'd just escaped from "They're still down there."

! - ! - !

Gai flew back against the concrete wall hard enough to leave an imprint, crying out loudly when Kakashi crashed into him and they both tumbled downward to the bottom of a flight of stairs, Asuma following behind.

Kakashi ignored the pain, most it was taken by Gai since he was the one that broke his fall, and pulled himself off Gai, extending a hand back to the man. "Gai, are you alright?"

"Yeah..." Gai took his hand. "What was that?" He didn't know what just happened, but his back was aching, thankfully a dulling pain. And that their path was now blocked, and parts of it were on fire.

"Some type of...electricity." Asuma shook his head, trying to regain his senses after being electrocuted. The explosion that closed the path blocked some of Kabuto's shot, though he still obtained enough damage to leave behind a burn mark. "That was Kabuto...and Iruka and Naruto are trapped up there with him. Iruka isn't strong enough to beat Kabuto, especially with that type of weapon...Damnit why'd he have to go after him like that."

Kakashi started to descend the stairway hastily "We have to clear a path now." And he knew exactly how to do it. "I'm going to find Zabuza, I'll work on this way, you two see if you can find another way up." He said.

"Somebody has to find away to reach him." Asuma jumped over a fallen pillar, then crouching under a sparking wire. "I don't have anything on me."

"I'll take care of it, just find an emergency exit or something leading to the roof."

! - ! - !

"You still don't give up do you Iruka?" Kabuto lifted the Railgun across his chest to block another bullet from Iruka. "After all this these times we've fought don't you realize you can't win? And yet you still come after me?"

Iruka crouched back down behind the unit, checking his ammunition. Naruto had never seen him so angry, and he'd never been so obedient in his life, it was just so...surreal to Naruto. 'Iruka...'

Iruka pushed himself off the ground and towards the left, gun outward, firing more shots at Kabuto. Kabuto easily avoided, countering with another charged shot from the Railgun. A streak of lighting tore through the air, sliding just barely across Iruka's back so closely that smaller bolts dug into his back. He fell forward, his body being forced back into the pile of debris that used to be the stairs by the explosion of some type of machinery. '!' He bit his lip to stifle a cry of pain.

"Iruka!" Naruto ran over to him, keeping a firm eye on Kabuto as he did so. "Are you alright!"

Iruka nodded, "It didn't hit me...just caught me off guard that's all." He tried to be reassuring to Naruto, but he had been hit, even if it didn't hit directly it did some damage if you were in range. "?" Iruka looked down in surprise as his phone rang, it had to be Kakashi or Asuma. "Come on." Iruka forced himself to stand, knowing it would be foolish to stand in one spot through it didn't seem to matter. Kabuto's aim was getting better, and he hadn't even felt the need to advance, all he needed to do was take out Iruka from here and he'd have Naruto...

Iruka ducked behind another square unit of unknown machinery as he answered the phone, keeping Naruto in front of him. "Kakashi? Are you alright?" Iruka asked frantically.

"We're fine...but Kabuto has Shikamaru." Kakashi told him.

"I know." Iruka glanced back, and his eyes widened, he couldn't believe he'd stopped paying attention for as long as he did "Naruto!" Iruka dived forward, knocking Naruto to the ground and throwing himself on to the boy. Just as another shot from Kabuto's electromagnetic Railgun erupted the unit he'd just used as a shield into flames. Large scraps of metal and concrete basing rained down on Iruka, enough to burry him completely.

"Are you ok?" Kakashi asked.

"F-Fine..." Iruka pushed his way up, feeling himself being cut in some places as the debris slid off his back. Immediately he checked Naruto for injury.

"Listen Iruka, we have a plan to get him back but it looks like your the only one who can do it now...And It may be the only way you can stay alive." Kakashi seemed hesitant to tell him, so Iruka knew he wouldn't like it. "You have to give yourself up."

"What? You can't be serious..."Iruka looked towards Kabuto, hearing another sound making itself known in his direction. "Why?"

"If you do, we can track you to Shikamaru."

Iruka and Naruto watched as the helicopter from before resurfaced behind Kabuto, things really weren't looking too good for them now. The only other way out was a 12 story drop. "That would mean giving up Naruto too. You actually want me to give up Naruto?"

Naruto looked up at Iruka, then at Kabuto. "Wait, what?"

"...He said Naruto was a source, that's the same thing he said about Shikamaru I'm not sure of what..." Iruka sighed "But that mean's he won't do anything to Naruto...Are you sure about this Kakashi?"

"We'll be tracking you completely" Kakashi paused for a moment "...I won't let anything happen to you."

Iruka turned off the phone and tossed it over the side of the building, manly from anger. He couldn't believe what he was about to do. "Naruto..."

"I'll do it." Naruto said promptly.

"What--"

"I could hear Kakashi from here." Naruto smirked. "My first infiltration mission."

"Naruto, this is serous." Iruka said firmly 'I can't believe I'm going to do this...what am I doing..."

! - ! - !


	17. Chapter 17: Iruka

Chapter 17: Iruka

"Was it really alright to do something like that?" Lee asked, sitting in the front seat of Gai's car with his eyes fixed on the radar mounted on Gai's dashboard. It was calibrated to a GPS satellite, so it showed the exact location of Iruka. "I mean just giving them up, to Kabuto. Iruka can't stand Kabuto."

"Don't worry about Iruka." Kakashi said from the back seat, staring blankly at his radar and the blinking red dot tracking the man. Even though his voice was as calm and cool as ever, he was worried, and he knew Lee was right, Iruka _couldn't_ stand Kabuto, especially after what just happened. But he wouldn't do anything stupid, would he? Iruka wouldn't, not calm, safe, sensible, Iruka. 'How dose he keep getting put in these situations?'

"I so worried, what's going to happen to him!" Gai said worriedly, struggling to see the road ahead with headlights that didn't seem to give him any visibility in the pitch black night. The rain made it even worse, and the windshield wipers could never seem to give him a clear view, he never realized how much the lights of the city effected things. "I can barely follow, are we going to make it?"

Kakashi took a deep breath and sat back. "If we don't, Asuma will."

"Where is Asuma?"

"Right above us."

! - ! - !

Shikamaru returned to consciousness with a loud gasp, as if his lungs had been deprived of air for the last few hours, His eyes shot open. His first awareness was that his body hurt, especially his left arm where he'd been injected with the tranquilizers, it throbbed horribly and was getting worse by the second. Shikamaru looked around, devouring large breaths as if his lungs couldn't hold enough, 'W-where am I! What's happening!' His mind scrambled to find an answer as his mind started remembering the past events before he woke up here.

He remembered fighting, in the hospital...he was tired...his Chakra was completely depleted, then he felt someone come behind him and a puncturing pain in his arm...that's when it happened. But where was he now? Shikamaru tried to lifted himself up to find that he was already standing, but was bound by his arms, his legs and his torso.

He looked down, seeing thick, metal straps around his wrist that forced his arms to stay outstretched to his sides. And the fact that every vein in his left arm was visible in red streaks was making it self more visibly evident, it seemed fitting to the pain. 'Ahhaaa...damnit.' He looked around, a large room with no windows and seemingly bare from his stand point, but behind him was a much different story. Machinery spread across every corner of the room, most it connected to him by electrodes attached to just about every part of his body along with tubes. Whatever he was strapped to, whatever wall was holding him up, was covered in small little pads that were pressed against his bare back. He could also see his clothes thrown in front of him as if whoever stripped him was rushing.

And then he noticed that it was pitch black in this room, he shouldn't have seen anything at all, he shouldn't have seen behind him... 'It's just like before during the storm.' Right after he went through a chemical fire. '...it's these chemicals, they're causing some type of reaction...' His body wasn't close too handling foreign chemicals and additives in this time, and his body was having reactions to them, mutative and Chakra reactions. How could he see in the dark now? It didn't matter 'Those men from the sound must have captured me...' He remembered Kabuto saying that he was a source, the only thing Shikamaru had was Chakra. 'He wants my Chakra...'

"Ahaaaaa...Ghaaaaa!" Shikamaru groaned loudly as the pain increased and his arm felt like it would explode. Apparently that drew attention to himself because the lights came on and 3 men came through the door, all of them armed. Shikamaru saw them, he saw their lips moving, but he couldn't hear a word they were saying from an increasing ringing in his ears. His head was starting to pound from that alone. "Uuuggaaaaaa!"

The shadows in the corners of the room started to spread outward in spite of the light, the darkness crept up the walls, the ground and along Shikamaru's body while the men looked on in confusion and horror. Shikamaru barely seemed to notice "Ahhaaaaaa!" The darkness moved faster, coming from all sides seemingly as if it was alive, and drawn toward the light bulb sitting in the center of the ceiling. Then the shadows covered it, making the light flicker and then disappear completely. Directly after, Shikamaru felt himself falling in the darkness, free of his restrains, and the second he hit the ground the lights clicked back on and the shadows were completely gone.

Not with out leaving evidence of what had just happened was real, Shikamaru had his doubts that the pain wasn't making him hallucinate. The machinery behind him had been completely ripped apart and smoking, the wall everything had been connected to including him was now just rubble. And the 3 men, all of them lay dead before him with blood running out of their mouths. "What...did I just do?"

! - ! - !

"Iruka, wake up."

Iruka was pulled into awareness by the familiar voice of Kabuto, his body at first was hesitant, but a sharp piercing pain in his left bicep made his eyes shoot open. First staring into Kabuto's eyes, then immediately shifting to his arm where a thick, silver liquid was being pushed in. He immediately tried to struggle, but found himself bound to a chair. "Kabuto! What did you just do?"

Kabuto smirked "Don't worry, it's not the same manipulation sedative I used before...your my first test, you should be honored to be apart of such a ground breaking experiment."

Iruka looked around, finding he was sitting in a bare room where the whole left wall was made of glass windows. He couldn't see anything though, nothing but darkness and rain, so he turned back to Kabuto and glared at him. "Where is Naruto and Shikamaru?"

"Believe me Iruka, you have more prominent problems to deal with." Kabuto reached into his back pocket and retrieved a remote or controller of some type, pressing a few buttons. "Your a fascinating person Iruka, not at all suited for this type of work."

Iruka started to feel dizzy, very dizzy, and hot, his whole body. He started to feel disoriented, and almost like he was falling asleep, a tiredness gripped him, strong enough to make him feel weak but he didn't lose consciousness. "What did...you put in me?" Iruka called out, his breath becoming heavy.

"I told you that you were the first experiment, right now billions of machines about 2 nanometers in size are circulating through your body." Kabuto adjusted his glasses, then continued pressing buttons "They can change your body on the level of your very DNA, and right now are replicating rapidly. This is so much more then a simple chemical that can only effect the body in one narrow sense, I can control your body in anyway I chose." Kabuto walked behind Iruka and untied him, letting him slump in the chair, just to prove his point.

"What...what are you doing to me now..." Iruka's head dropped and his eyes became half-lidded, still panting heavy breaths.

"At this moment, changing the genetic compounds of a few liquids in your brain. A simple truth serum test. So Iruka, your going to tell me what ever I want to know."

"Where...is Naruto...?" Though weak, Iruka's voice held some audible sediment.

Kabuto ignored the question for the moment "So Iruka, do you hate me?"

Iruka's panting became worse "More...then anything."

"Really, so, do you think you can kill me?" Kabuto asked interestedly.

"I don't know."

"Then why do you persistently come after me, even though your not nearly smart or skilled enough to stand a chance?"

"Because you have to be stopped."

"Stopped?"

"You betrayed Konoha, used our information to create an attack that killed thousands of people. You kidnapped Sasuke, Naruto and Konohamaru...and I hate you."

"Hmm..." Kabuto looked over Iruka, thinking for a moment "You interest me Iruka, your a very passionate one. The only thing you have that surpasses that is your stupidity, I can't believe you've managed to stay alive this long. I may just keep you alive just to see what you do next."

Iruka lifted his head. "Where is Naruto and Shikamaru?"

"Don't worry about them, they're alive for now."

! - ! - !

"Are you sure Lee can use that thing?" Gai asked, looking up through the darkness and at the shadowy form of a building before him. He waited uneasily, holding off on the urge to rev his car.

"He'll figure it out." Kakashi said, watching the opposite side of the building carefully. "Asuma better be ready though."

Gai nodded and waited silently... both watching...Then it happened, A loud explosion followed by a rush of flames from the other side of the building, just barely giving a split second look at the whole facility. Small, discrete, prefect. "Wait..." Kakashi said, knowing how impatient Gai could be "Wait...Go!" Upon his words the green car accelerated.

! - ! - !

"Let them..." Iruka's words trailed off as he looked to his left out the window. Kabuto paused and followed Iruka's eyes, and flinched as a green car came flying through the glass, landing almost agilely and sliding to a stop next to a still unmoving Iruka. Asuma kicked down the door and ran into the room right after, radar in hand.

Iruka sat there, looking completely dazed and confused. "Iruka?" Asuma ran over to him as Kakashi and Gai emerged from the car, "Are you alright?"

"Not...really."

Kakashi felt his forehead, then his pulse "What happened to you."

"Kabuto. Where...is Kabuto?"

The three of them looked at each other, then took a quick look around. Kabuto had disappeared. "Go find Naruto and Shikamaru." Asuma said, "I'll take care of Iruka...and where's Lee?"

Gai looked as if an alarm had just went off in his head "The distraction! They're heading right for him!" Gai took off out of the door, not sure where he was going except for the express knowledge that an ambush was heading for his number one student who was somewhere on the other side of this floor.

! - ! - !

Lee looked up at the raging flames that encircled a hole that spanned a whole wall, how could one little box do all of this "Wow, how did this Zabuza guy make something so small, so powerful?"

His thoughts were irrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps coming his way from the direction of the hole. A lot of them. 'Oh wait...was I suppose to--" Lee had to veer to the side to avoid a bullet. Men were rushing out of the hole in groups of 4 or 5, all of them coning right for him. "!" Lee jumped into the air, coming down in the center of the group, then punching the first person he saw, a man tried to grab him from behind. But Lee threw a swift kick backwards into his head, then he jumped into the air and spun around just enough to kick the remaining three in with one blow. His strength was enough to knock them out with a few well placed attacks.

It seemed to be over for the moment, but it wasn't more then a second after he landed that he heard the click of a gun behind him. Lee drove his elbow backwards, feeling it connect with something and the sound of air being forced out of someone's lungs. Lee stood up quickly enough to drive his head into the man's chin and knock him to the ground. 'Huh?' Lee turned around and found himself staring into the barrel of a gun, they were coming to fast!

Lee reached forward and grabbed the man by his arm, crouching down and pulling him forward before he could shoot, Lee drove his shoulder onto the man's torso and tossed him aside by his arm.

"Lee look out!"

Lee turned towards the sound of the voice and flinched when he saw Gai flying from seemingly out of nowhere and into another man he hadn't seen. "Gai-Sensei?"

Gai pulled his riffle from his back "Come on, we have to get out of the open." Only seconds after he spoke, gunfire was drawn towards them.

! - ! - !

Sasuke kicked the door as hard as he could mange, each strike made the heavy steel barrier drag more and more along the ground in a heavy scraping sound. Sasuke took a step back and rammed the door with his shoulder, 'Just a little more.' With one more step back, and one more thrust of his shoulder he knocked the blocked door from it's hinges.

A loud smashing sound echoed as the steel smash into the ground and Sasuke moved hastily through the door way. "Naruto!" Sasuke looked around at the room filled with equipment and machinery, there were more wires then he could count. All of them were either hooked up to strange wall Naruto was strapped to, or to Naruto himself.

Naruto was bound by his arms, legs and torso just as Shikamaru was, but unlike Shikamaru most of the wires and tubing was connected to the tattoo like mark on his stomach. "Sasuke? Wow, you made it." Naruto said with a smirk.

"Hold on." Sasuke ran over to him "I'll get you out of there."

"Don't bother." Naruto's smirk grew into a large smile "You think I haven't been tied down before?" Naruto shifted his body around carefully, and then spit out a long, thin needle into his hand.

Sasuke thought about it, "When were you ever tied down?"

Naruto began working the needle onto the metal strap's lock, even from this strange angle he was able to do it correctly "I told you people hate me right, I know how to get out of locks."

"I see you came prepared. Comforting." Sasuke snorted sarcastically, watching the lock on Naruto's left arm open and the boy quickly start on the other 4 holding him down. "Why would they hook everything up to this, what's with this mark dobe?"

"I don't know." Naruto shrugged, now both arms were free "I thought it was just a birth mark but that guy Kabuto started doing things, he said it was special. And he said I was a source of Chakra. Weird." Naruto pulled himself off of the wall now that he'd gotten out of all of his restraints.

"Chakra? The only person who can use Chakra is that guy Shikamaru who came from the past."

! - ! - !

"What happened here?" Kakashi looked around carefully as he stepped over the wreckage to enter the room, there was no shortage of it since nothing was left in one piece. "You must really pack a punch." Kakashi stood over Shikamaru with his hands in his pocket, watching the boy on his knees panting and clinching his arm tightly, then glancing at the 3 dead men nearby. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." Shikamaru grunted, he felt the pain from before subsiding. "I presume you came to rescue me."

"Of course." Kakashi took another look around "You did all of this? Must be pretty strong, how'd you do it? Jutsu?"

"I don't know...the tranquilizers they gave me cause some type of reaction, the next thing I knew I was doing all of this."

"This one hell of a reaction."

"Yeah..."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Zabuza stared blankly at the ceiling with his hands resting behind his head and one knee draw up, listening to the anxious and excited words and movements of the people outside his door. Rushing to the patients that they'd left behind during the attacks, making rooms for new ones. His shirt was gone, his torso cleaned in bandaged, and he got the feeling that when they removed the bullets from him it was a rush job. All of it just made him wonder why he was sitting in a Konoha hospital, he should have left by now.

It wouldn't have been hard, no one knew who he was, or was barely paying attention. Why was he still here?

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"That was easy, was it supposed to be easy?" Shikamaru asked, laying in a bed in Gai's house 3 hours after the fact. "I couldn't have been captured more then a half hour."

"It's simple Shikamaru." Gai leaned against the door way to his room, standing over Lee "The Sound doesn't have the resources to create a large scale defense, or safe guard against detection. Plus, Kabuto was in Konoha, this looked as if what he was doing was supposed to be quick and subtle, he was intending to move out today. So if a plain so complicated was done so hastily, of course it would have critical errors."

"I guess...but what exactly did Kabuto need all of those things for." Shikamaru asked as if this was really bothering him, it wasn't surprising it would be. "And what did he need me and Naruto for?"

"Don't worry too much about it Shikamaru." Gai said reassuringly, "I'll be back, I have to do some reconnaissance work. I'll be back." Gai gave a quick wave before he turned and left "Call me if you need anything."

Lee watched the man leave, before he sat down on the bed next to Shikamaru. "I was sooo worried about you! Are ok?"

"I'm fine Lee." Shikamaru told him, his eyes shifting down to his arm. "But...something strange happened to me."

"Like what?"

! - ! - !

Kakashi had a hard time getting up here, especially since there were no longer any stairs leading to this place, which made him ask why he was even bothering to look up here. But it would be stupid to turn back now, now that he' done all of this work to get here in the first place. With that thought in mind he pushed his way through the debris of broken concrete and wood, he knew he reached the surface when he felt rain hitting his head.

Kakashi forced his way out of what used to be a doorway and climbed up to the roof of Konoha hospital. Long since changing out of his bomb suit and into his regular attire and mask. And as soon as he did he found who he was looking for, Iruka was standing only a few feet away, leaning against the concrete boarder surrounding edge of the roof. He was just standing there, looking down at the flashing red and blue light of police EMS that finally arrived. He didn't seem to care that it was cold out here, or that it was raining.

"Don't jump." Kakashi called out, walking towards Iruka who didn't look back "My car's down there."

"..."

Kakashi stood next to him, propping his elbows on the waist high wall and leaning back against it. "How'd you get up here?"

"Fire escape."

"Fire escape? There's a fire escape?" Kakashi mentally kicked himself, why couldn't he seem to find it. But that didn't matter right now. "What's wrong, and don't tell me nothing."

"I'm fine."

"Your standing out in the rain, your not fine." Kakashi said firmly "What's wrong?"

"Can't lie to you huh Kakashi?" Iruka sighed. "I can't believe what I just did."

"What?" Kakashi was confused for a moment, but then he only had to think of what Iruka would feel bad about. "Oh that...It wasn't your fault. It had to be done."

"Had to be done?" Iruka shook his head "No, I could have found another way, I shouldn't have given up Naruto!"

"If you didn't, you both would have been killed."

"You don't know that! I should have just kept fighting Kabuto."

"You would have been killed." Kakashi repeated "You couldn't have stood a chance against odds like that."

"I don't care! There were chances that I could have." Iruka shouted. "What if something would have happened to Naruto?"

"Calm down, nothing _did_ happen to Naruto." Kakashi emphasized "And if you hadn't done what you did, then we wouldn't have been able to get Shikamaru back."

"That still didn't excuse what I did!" Iruka said...there was a small silence that settled between them, Iruka just stared at Kakashi...then he took a deep breath, he was getting pretty excited over this.

"Iruka..." Kakashi pushed himself off the wall and stood face to face with the man, looking him in the eye.

"Kakashi, tell me how you can stand doing things like this?" Iruka asked "You make decisions like this all the time, decisions that can result in someone's death, how can you do it? You make it seem almost easy."

"This is a horrible, mean spirited occupation and I take no pleasure in it, it just comes easily to me." Kakashi told him, he lifted his hands on to Iruka's shoulders. "It's not easy for me to say this but, I'm telling you get away from it."

Iruka looked up at him questioningly "What?"

"Your a pure, kind, nice, person, you need to think long and hard to yourself do you want to wake up every morning with as many good traits as you have and your potential...and come to a job like _this_? You obviously don't want to hurt or kill people, you can't handle that. That's why you shouldn't be here "

Iruka was silent for a moment, staring up at Kakashi "Run?...Kakashi, I can't believe you...your such a liar."

Now Kakashi was confused. "What?"

"You keep saying how this doesn't effect you." Iruka said.

Kakashi shook his head. "Unfortunately, it doesn't."

"I'll admit that your really strong, and skilled, but even someone like you can't tell me it didn't effect you when you told me to give myself up to Kabuto." Iruka couldn't seem to look him in the eye anymore. "I know you Kakashi, I know it did, and if you realize it or not I think your not telling me to stay away from this jobs, your telling me to stay away from you."

Kakashi looked blankly at him, thinking... "...?"

"Tell me I'm wrong, say something."

Kakashi he should have immediately denied it, he should have tried to convince Iruka he was wrong, and would have. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized he couldn't...Iruka was wrong, he just thought that and he was wrong...wasn't he? Kakashi knew he was mad at himself for some how always getting Iruka into these situations...it seemed like every time Kakashi was involved, Iruka was placed in some type of danger.

Before when the Nine-tails came from the past and attacked the city, and when he sent Iruka to the NDAFA when he knew something was happing there and Iruka ended up in a very outmatched fight against Kabuto. And when he went after Kabuto and used Iruka as his pilot to do so. He could have gotten Asuma to do it, Asuma was a better pilot then Iruka and Kabuto, he didn't and Iruka was still getting over his injuries from that...Maybe he was telling Iruka to stay away from him, he always ended up getting him hurt.

"I think your right..." Kakashi watched Iruka's head dropped. "Things always seem to happen to you around me."

"So this is it?" Iruka turned away from Kakashi and leaned on the wall again. "Do you really want this, because I don't."

"Yeah." Kakashi stood next to him again, "I do. I can't keep putting you in danger, I can't live with my self if I willingly put some one like you in those types of situations again. And it's going to keep happening if you stay with me.."

"Kakashi, It's going to keep happening no matter what." Iruka told him.

"Probably."

"This is really happening, Come on Kakashi, I've known you since I was a kid, do you really want to do this?"

"It's not like that, we're still friends." Kakashi pushed himself off the wall and headed back the way he came. "Don't stay out here to long, you'll catch a cold."

"Kakashi..." Iruka felt like an idiot, unable to do anything but stand there and watch him walk away. He wanted to say something, but he just...couldn't, he couldn't find the words for some reason.

"I know, You don't have to say anything." Kakashi threw him back a small wave. "See you later."

"Yeah...see you later Kakashi." Iruka turned back around and looked over the edge of the wall again, "..."

! - ! - !

"Holy crap! Look at this place!" Naruto looked around the Uchiha home excitedly, he'd never seen a house so big, "You had this place, and you were living with me?"

Sasuke pulled off his wet shirt and tossed it aside "Yes."

Naruto looked through the door behind the living room, it lead to a dinning room, an extravagantly decorated dinning room. "Why? Look at this place, it's so cool."

Sasuke picked off a towel from the couch and ran it through his hair. 'Because I wanted to stay with you.' Sasuke just shrugged as if he wasn't thinking about it. "I don't know dobe."

Naruto closed the door and crossed the living room to the hallway opposite the one leading to the front door, where the kitchen resided. 'It's so huge! Why didn't Sasuke just go home to _this_ place instead of living with me all those years...' Naruto's excitement subsided as the thought worked it's way through his head, he looked back toward Sasuke, who was sitting on the couch on top of the towel he'd been using to dry himself off. 'He's rich, and he owns a whole bunch of houses, and stuff from his family. Why didn't he just go back home...'

Naruto sat down, not caring if he was soaking wet. He just kept thinking about it...before he realized it a substantial amount of time had passed and neither of them had said anything. "Hey Sasuke?"

Sasuke laid his head back on the couch and glanced at the boy. "What is it Naruto?"

"I really forgive you this time."

"What?"

"I wasn't so sure last time but..." Naruto paused, letting his head fall on to the wall. "..."

Sasuke nodded. "Hn."

"So what was it like living here?"

! - ! - !

"What's with you kid?" Kisame asked, "11:30, what are you doing here...better yet, how did you get out? Weren't you in the hospital."

Kisame sat back on to the couch next to Konohamaru, apparently tired. Konohamaru dropped his hands into his lap and looked up at him, "Something really big happened and they discharged me. And I snuck out, Itachi taught me how."

"But you didn't answer the question." Itachi sat down next to him, folding his arms and closing his eyes. "Why are you here?"

"I don't know...I just wanted to."

"What was wrong with you anyway?" Kisame said with a dead look across his face, Konohamaru wasn't even sure he saw his mouth move.

"I'm not sure, all of a sudden everything started hurting really bad, I couldn't breath, I don't even think I could move. Those guys at the hospital said it was a reaction from something put into me some time between last week and now."

Kisame opened his eyes and looked at Itachi, once again in silent agreement. "Konohamaru, what happened when--" Kisame didn't get to finish his sentence.

"Nothing! I told you guys nothing happened!" Konohamaru shouted, he wished they'd just stop asking, he didn't want to think about it let alone divulge details of it.

Kisame shrugged, then turned to Itachi 'You said you could make him talk, go for it'.

"Konohamaru." Itachi walked over to him seemingly with purpose. He knelt down in front of Konohamaru. "Look at me."

"Huh?" Konohamaru glanced over at him cautiously. "What is it?"

Itachi placed his hand on Konohamaru's shoulder and looked him in the eyes, at first Konohamaru was confused by it ... but some how Konohamaru was tempted to look a him completely...he found himself staring into those eyes that he could have sworn just turned red. He didn't even notice himself falling back against the couch, his eyes becoming wonton and half -lidded. "I-Itachi..."

Kisame sat up and looked over the boy carefully, one second he was mad and now he just looked barely awake. With one look from Itachi. "What did you just do?"

"I hypnotized him."

"You can do that?" Kisame asked, Konohamaru did seem unusually docile.

Itachi slowly laid Konohamaru down next to Kisame, then he stood up to leave the room. "Go ahead, ask him something."

"Uh...ok, What did Orochimaru do to you " Kisame was skeptical about Itachi's 'Hypnosis' until Konohamaru started talking. The boy described every detail of what happened to him, each second making Kisame more infuriated at Orochimaru then the next. Especially the part about Konohamaru's parents, more specifically what Orochimaru did to Konohamaru with them. And to think he used to be his teammate. "...Orochimaru's a dead man."

"I thought you weren't getting attached to him." Itachi reentered the room, holding a stack of papers under his arm .

"I'm not." Kisame snorted.

"Then why are you so angry."

"I can't stand Orochimaru, now how do you change him back?"

Itachi lifted his hand and snapped his fingers, and in an odd manner Konohamaru sprang upright, his eyes completely aware "What happened?"

"Nothing." Kisame closed his eyes and folded his arms, waiting silently.

"Hey Kisame, can you give me so more training?" Konohamaru asked.

"Not tonight brat, I have a mission tomorrow."

Now Konohamaru was more interested. "Really? What do you have to do."

Kisame laughed lightly "You know I can't tell you that, and even if I could, why would I?"

Konohamaru jumped into Kisame's lap, effectively waking him up. "Come on, Please?"

"If you get the hell of me I'll give you a hint." Kisame unfolded his arms and pushed Konohamaru forward abruptly, watching the boy tumble to the ground and roll along the carpet in a sloppy mass of body and scarf. By the time he hit the wall on the other side of the room he was completely tangled in it. "It's simple, just watch TV tomorrow, doesn't matter which channel."

! - ! - !

"Your still here?" Kakashi hadn't expected Zabuza to still be in the hospital room, he wasn't even sure what drove him to come to this room. He'd been wandering around unmethodically for the last half hour after he talked with Iruka on the roof, his body may have been moving, but his mind was elsewhere. In fact he hadn't even noticed he was here until he saw Zabuza.

"Yes Kakashi." Zabuza said, slightly annoyed that Kakashi was pointing out the obvious.

Usually Kakashi would have made a smart remark for a comment like that, but it just didn't seem like he could do it at the moment "You'll have to forgive me, I'm not in my usual humorous mood. I thought you'd be gone by now."

"Then why did you come?"

"Why didn't you leave?"

Zabuza looked back up towards the ceiling, honestly he didn't know. "Humph."

Kakashi sat down on the ground, his back against the side of the bed, he was feeling in a curious mood at the moment. "Zabuza, why are you here?"

"I told you already, trying to get to Orochimaru. You guys seem to attract him. "

"Fair enough..." Kakashi leaned his head back, staring up at the ceiling as Zabuza was. "When you said he took someone important from you, how did that happen?"

"Trying to get in to my head, I killed the last person who did that."

"I don't doubt it." Kakashi didn't seem surprised, "I don't think I have to worry about that. But what happened?"

"Why are you so interested in it?"

"I don't know." Kakashi shrugged "I'm not sure of anything right now, And I can tell you aren't either."

Zabuza turned towards the window "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Come on, what the harm in telling me."

Zabuza sat up and slid off the bed next, sitting next to Kakashi on the ground, "There's plenty of harm in telling you, so stop asking."

He guessed there would be, considering who Zabuza was "Don't worry, I promise I wont tell, I wouldn't want people getting suspicious. "

And Zabuza thought Kakashi _wasn't_ in a humorous mood, that didn't last long, and it didn't surprise him, this _was_ Kakashi after all. "So you found out, slow on the draw aren't we." Zabuza returned to his former position with his hands behind his head and one knee drawn up.

"I suspected as much before I found out, since your pretty good at disappearing." Kakashi complemented in a mocking way. "So why did you pick bombs?"

"Why did you pick the bomb squad?" Zabuza found it was strange how much they conflicted, picking two completely opposite positions. "You know you could get in a lot of trouble with your country for talking to me."

"Trouble seems to follow me around, I'm very good friends with it." Kakashi said "It owes me one, tomorrow it's my day off and we're going out for drinks. Wanna come?"

"So why do you care?"

"Cause I want to know you."

Zabuza glanced at Kakashi curiously, then looked back towards the ceiling. He didn't know why he was doing this, especially since Kakashi could possibly ruin any attempts he had at getting to Orochimaru. Or let Konoha use him to boost diplomacy with the Mist country by handing over their most wanted criminal. "And what do you want to know?"

Kakashi smirked "What's your favorite color?"

Zabuza wasn't at all surprised by the question, this was _Kakashi_. "Black."

"What's your favorite food?"

"I don't have one."

"What's your least favorite food?"

"Anything sweet."

"What's your favorite element?"

"Water."

"Why'd you save me back there?"

"Because I wanted to."

"Really?"

"Yes Kakashi."

"What's with the bombs?"

"I like seeing things explode."

Kakashi paused for a moment, moving on to a more serous question. "When you said we attract Orochimaru,... is that really the reason you keep showing up?"

Zabuza shrugged "Honestly, I don't know."

"...What's behind that mask?"

"...You show me, and I'll show you."

Kakashi smiled as he reached forward and tugged at the rim of the white bandages surrounding Zabuza's face, he didn't shy away when he felt Zabuza pulling at his. It was like electricity was running through him with each breath he took. He felt anxious when he did this, forcing him to stop and take a deep breath before he pulled down the covering and reveling the other man's face. Zabuza reveled much more then he expected, Kakashi's other eye was a deep red, contrasting to the darker one. "I knew some thing was different about you."

Zabuza had a fitting smirk across his lips as he leaned forward and kissed Kakashi, staring into the conflicting eyes as he went deeper into the kiss and explored every inch of the man's mouth. They pulled back only for air.

Kakashi leaned forward and laid his head on Zabuza's shoulder "..."

"What's wrong?"

! - ! - !

Sounds of metal scraping and pounding greeted him as he descended the stairs, stepping carefully downward through the dark with bags a bag in his arms. "Iruka?" Asuma stepped into the large underground hanger that still hadn't been repaired completely, since no one got around to this place yet. "Are you down here?"

Asuma looked around, there was only one light on and that was a flood light hanging from the ceiling above the stripped frame of Iruka's ship. Iruka was of course working diligently, welding parts of the steel together. Iruka looked up "Asuma? What are you doing down here?"

"I couldn't find you, I went by your house and you weren't there so I finally ended up coming here." Asuma set the paper bag down and walked towards the frame. "What are you doing here?"

"Just thought 'd get some work in since I haven't done anything in a while." Iruka told him, climbing down from the inside of the frame and looking over his recent work.

"It's late, and this has been a...stressful day." For lack of a better word Asuma could find. "Especially for you, you should be resting right now, or at least not working."

"Yeah, it's been...interesting, but I'm alright."

Asuma sat down against the frame of the plane and lit a cigarette "What's wrong? The only reason you'd be working at this hour is if something was bothering you." Asuma reached over to his bag and started shifting through it, "Care for a drink?"

"..."

! - ! - !

"Don't drink often?" Asuma lifted the glass to his lips and took a sip, watching Iruka who seemed disoriented already.

"How can you tell?" Iruka looked up at him solemnly.

"Because your half drunk. And no, that wasn't what I was trying to do." Asuma said with a small laugh. "So what's wrong?"

Iruka drew his knees up and buried his face into his lap, "I can't believe myself. There's no reason I should have given up Naruto."

Asuma rubbed Iruka's back lightly "I know it was hard for you, but it had to be done."

"Had to be done? How could something like that have to be done?" Iruka lifted his head "I should have tried harder to get back up."

Asuma sighed. "There was nothing that would have made them come any faster, you didn't have any proof, and it didn't seem likely that something like that would happen at a time like this."

"That doesn't change what I did, and I was mad at Kabuto for doing the same thing." Iruka stared up blankly at Asuma. "I gave someone I love up to my worst enemy, where he could have gotten killed or any number of horrible things could have happened to him. Maybe if I wasn't so weak I could have stopped Kabuto."

"Iruka, your not weak." Asuma emptied the last of his third glass, starting on his fourth.

"Yes I am!" Iruka yelled. "I willingly put Naruto into the hands of the Sound because I was too weak to stop Kabuto myself."

"Hmm...Your really bother by this." Asuma grabbed Iruka by the shoulder and abruptly turned him so they were face to face "Your not weak, in fact this might be the alcohol talking but your kinda scary when you mad."

"What?" Iruka looked up at him inquiringly. "What are you talking about?"

Asuma finished off the glass, thinking better of it not to start a new one, he was sure he'd had too much already by the way his words were starting to slur "Your not weak, and this wasn't your fault."

Iruka sighed and dropped his head from Asuma's view "Then why do I feel like it was?"

"Because your a nice guy." Asuma placed his hand under Iruka's chin and lifted his head. "So stop it, I hate to see you so depressed."

Iruka laid his head back against the metal frame of his unfinished ship and closed his eyes "I guess so."

Asuma sighed and rubbed his head, waiting a few moments before he started to reach for another cigarette. 'huh?' Asuma glanced over at Iruka...he was asleep already, he'd been so tired to start with. 'Something really must have been bothering him if he came here at this time of night...'

Iruka's dormant body feel to the side, and he landed in a sleepy daze on Asuma's lap. 'Huh?'

Iruka shifted lightly and buried his head into Asuma's stomach, then his arms wrapped around Asuma's waist almost defensively. "Asuma?" His voice was tired and slightly slurred, partially from the alcohol. "Can I...stay with you like this?"

"Iruka?" Asuma ignored the fact that Iruka wasn't one to hold a few drinks well, and most likely didn't know what he was doing. "Are you sure?"

"You make me feel...better. Safe." Iruka said softly, before he drifted back to sleep.

'Is this really...ok?' Asuma asked himself, looking down at Iruka who did seem much calmer now. "I guess so. As long as your safe." With the thought of sleeping in this place all night bearing in his head, Asuma softly scooped Iruka up into his arms, carefully so that he wouldn't wake him.

! - ! - !

The feeling of warm sunlight shining in his face stirred him back to consciousness after his body tried to ignore it for a while now, Iruka's arms wrapped more tightly around the object that offered firm warmth before he could no longer fight against it. Iruka inhaled deeply, smelling a familiar scent that made him feel as if he was in a familiar place. He slowly lifted his head and rubbed his eyes before he looked around, he found himself in Asuma's lap, the older man warring nothing but a t-shirt and a pair of boxers. Iruka found himself in similar attire, though the clothing wasn't his, he could tell by how big they were on him.

He was laying on a bed, his head in Asuma's lap and his arms around the man's waist while Asuma was sitting up. His back against the wall his bed was placed next to and his hands resting behind his head. "Huh?" Iruka blinked and took another look around, this time he saw his clothes laying across a chair, still damp from the previous night's rain. "Asuma?"

Asuma yawned, lifting his head in a light stretch. "Oh, Iruka, your awake?"

"Where am I?"

"My house."

Memories of last night drifted back to him, now Iruka understood "We didn't...do anything last night did we?"

"No." Asuma said, of course he wouldn't think of taking advantage of Iruka. "I guess you want to leave now...but...uh, you can stay if you want." Asuma seemed nervous when he said this, waiting anxiously for an answer.

Iruka leaned upward and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, then let his head fall back down into Asuma's lap, closing his eyes. "Thank you for being there for me Asuma."

Asuma rested his arm on Iruka's back and rubbed his head lightly. "Iruka."

! - ! - !

"So you had both sources, and they escaped." Orochimaru growled annoyedly.

"I'm sorry to say yes, but I did get more parts I needed." Kabuto added. "Getting the sources a second time maybe harder since they know were after them. Naruto is harmless...but he maybe the most important one, his Chakra level is substantial, and all of it resides in a tattoo of some sort on his stomach. It's much more easy to extract Chakra from Shikamaru, but he's more dangerous. You should have seen what he did to his restraints and the equipment..."

"We can't afford mistakes like this!" Orochimaru yelled. "Next time, no errors, no mistakes, everything _will_ go according to plan."

"That could be a problem, every time I enter Konoha, I'm continuously intercepted by the same people. It's annoying." Kabuto removed his glasses and carefully wiped the lens "We need to take care of them."

Orochimaru annoyedly stood up, glancing around the dark room "Kidoumaru, Sakon, Jiroubou Tayuya." A subtle but distinct sound could be heard at Orochimaru's back as his 4 generals appeared behind him "Kidoumaru, I want you to take out this Hatake Kakashi, Sakon your assigned to Maito Gai, Jiroubou kill our old friend Momochi Zabuza, Tayuya you should be able to handle both of the source and Umi--"

"Wait." Kabuto interrupted. "I want Iruka."

"Fine, I'll handle Sarutobi and his brat grandson myself." Orochimaru left the dark room, his 4 generals following, Kabuto at his side. He was sure this time that Konoha would fall, because his plan was fool proof, and the key to a good plain was Failsafe. And his failsafe was the SDI.


	18. Chapter 18: How things start

Chapter 18: How things start

"I don't know, I mean half of me wants to hurt him." Konohamaru said, sitting in the familiar settings of Itachi and Kisame's usual safe house in Konoha. He looked strait ahead at the TV that was on mute, which Itachi had on for a reason, and avoided looking up at Itachi. "A lot...but the other part of me wants to kick that part of me's ass for thinking that way. What am I suppose to do?"

"I don't really care." Itachi said frankly, finding his brother's name an annoyance at the moment. Every time it was mentioned it brought up the memory of how disappointedly weak he'd been.

"Come on, I need help on this." Konohamaru said

"You can figure this out on your own." Itachi sounded cold when he said that, but he usually did.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Konohamaru jumped up from the couch and pointed an accusing finger at Itachi. "Part of this is your fault!"

Itachi snorted "I don't control my brother actions, he chose to do what he did on his own."

"You fought him!" Konohamaru shouted "You said something to him, I know you did."

Itachi barely responded "Don't blame me for what he did to you."

"It's your fault!" Konohamaru yelled "Don't you feel any responsibility for what you did to him! You killed your whole family! He was your brother and he trusted you, you left him all alone, you left him for dead!" Konohamaru shook his head as he glared at Itachi, he felt a furry rushing through him "How can you not feel anything at all after that! Don't you care about anything you did to him?"

Itachi rolled his eyes "I don't."

"All those times he must have wondered what it would have been like if his parents were there, and what it would have been like if they weren't dead. If they were there..." It became clear by each word that Konohamaru started talking less about Sasuke and more about himself.

"Done yet?"

He wasn't even listening! He didn't even care! Konohamaru growled in frustration "You evil bastard!" Konohamaru yelled, stomping toward the door.

Itachi smirked, "So now your running away."

Konohamaru stopped and glanced back at him sideways with a harsh glare "I'm not running."

"Yes you are." Itachi folded his arms and sat back. "And your protecting Sasuke, I thought you were mad at him."

Konohamaru was about to say something back, when he realized, though reluctantly, that Itachi was right. He'd tricked him so easily it was almost embarrassing, but on the other hand this was Itachi, he could trick anyone. And it was especially easy since he knew Konohamaru so well.

Looked like Itachi gave him the help he asked for, more then a simple one-word answer, even if it did piss him off. "Do you really...not care about you did?"

Itachi didn't respond, or show any indication of an answer to his question. "You can't keep hiding here, your going to have to face it eventually."

Maybe he shouldn't push it, he wouldn't get an answer out of him, Itachi was ignoring the question completely. "Yeah your right..." Konohamaru glanced to the silent TV, which reminded him of what Kisame told him. "Itachi please... don't do that to Sasuke again, Haven't you done enough." Konohamaru looked up at him pleadingly "Please don't hurt him."

Itachi didn't respond, again giving no indication of an answer. Konohamaru was used to that by now, he rarely got a strait response from the Uchiha, or any Uchiha for that matter. Konohamaru sighed and rubbed his head. "Damnit Itachi."

! - ! - !

"Where'd you go this time?" Kakashi asked seemingly to himself as he walked causally down the street, which was much more active them before. Just about everyone in the city was outside for one reason or another, most starting on repairs. It was rather uplifting to see so many people. "For a week."

Zabuza jumped down from some place above, landing right next to Kakashi. "Taking care of some business."

Zabuza and business, That didn't sound to good "So, this business, did it result in someone being blown up?"

"Not really, but of course that's a possibility an any situation."

"You should do something proactive, I'm sure you have some skill that doesn't result in death."

Zabuza looked around at his surroundings, feeling a small chill in the air that suggested colder weather was coming. "Where are you going?"

"Looking in on a few people." Kakashi told him carelessly. "Wanna come?"

"Not really." Zabuza felt annoyed already.

Kakashi wrapped his arm around Zabuza's shoulder, "Come on."

! - ! - !

"Your forgetting something." Sarutobi called out, still reading over papers on his desk. It never seemed to stop coming.

Konohamaru glanced back "Huh? What?"

"Medicine." Sarutobi opened up a desk draw and pulled out a transparent orange bottle, then tossed the antioxidant caplets to him. "You keep forgetting important things like this, I'm not always going to be around to remind you."

Konohamaru rolled his eyes and swallowed one of the tablets, then threw the bottle back towards him. "I'm feeling better, do I still have to take these? They taste like crap."

"Just because your feeling better doesn't mean you are. And go drink some water with that." Sarutobi called up, pushing aside a few papers to the side "But I'm glad to here your feeling better, wanna go get some breakfast?"

"Sorry I can't." Konohamaru called back "I have to do something really important. Maybe latter."

Sarutobi looked down at his papers 'Look's like he's feeling better, that's good...I think.'

! - ! - !

Sasuke yawned and stretched lightly, emerging from the empty bedroom in a pair of shorts. It was horribly nostalgic walking down that hallway, it didn't inspire the best memories, no place in this house did. He really hated this place, he didn't even think he'd have to ever see this place again, he was planning on it. But he had no choice now that Naruto's apartment was gone.

Sasuke headed down the stairs, still feeling a sense of dread misery surrounding this house like ghosts that hung around every square inch. That was until he reached the living room where Naruto was sitting on the white couch in front of TV with a bowl of miso ramen. That cold and miserable feeling seemed to fade around him, it was more energetic and fiery, almost happy. "Naruto, there's no power."

Naruto glanced up at him, taking a loud slurp of the noodles then responded with his mouth full "I kowe tha." He said, swallowing.

"Then how did you get the TV on." Sasuke asked.

Naruto smirked "Heh Heh, my secret."

Sasuke just shrugged and headed toward the kitchen "How can stations still be broadcasting at a time like this? Last time I checked they were hit by the storm too."

"If there's one thing I've learned." Naruto called back "Is that there will always be Media in one way form or fashion." He pointed up toward the ceiling "Satellite."

Sasuke returned to the living room with a hot cup of tea in his hand. He looked more closely at the TV "What are you watching?"

"Fear factor."

Sasuke shrugged. "Figures." He went to sit down, only to hear the doorbell ring. "I got it." He stood up wandering who in the hell could that possibly this early in the morning and coming here of all places. As he made his way toward the door he kept thinking of how empty this place was, not just this house but everywhere surrounding it, it was always empty after what happened.

He opened the door, and was honestly surprised at what he found "K-Konohamaru? What are you doing here?"

"Do you know how long it took me to track you down!" Konohamaru shouted angrily, "I didn't even know where this place was!"

"Konohamaru?" Sasuke stared at the boy for a moment, before he realized that this was the opportunity he was waiting for " Konohamaru I'm--"

Konohamaru dropped his head. "I know." He said solemnly "I was really mad at you, I hated you even. But...I couldn't keep going like that. I don't wanna be like you and your brother."

Sasuke silently nodded "..." 'I never told him about Itachi...'

Konohamaru walked past him in to the large house before any questions could be raised. "You owe me a bowl of natto." He called back as he looked around, heading toward Naruto on the couch.

"Konohamaru?" Naruto looked up from his bowl of Ramen. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now." Konohamaru nodded, leaning over Naruto's shoulder.

! - ! - !

He always found watching something like this fascinating, especially a machine that he'd never seen before, it gave him the challenge of trying to comprehend how it functioned. Shikamaru laid on top of one of the remaining buildings that were still standing, it was near downtown and was tall enough to give him a view that seemed to stretch for miles. The half risen sun behind him gave the perfect light without the least bit of glare, and he didn't mind the cold breeze that washed over every once and awhile. This was an indisputably perfect spot, one of a few that he'd found already.

He looked down upon a large crane lifting a steel object that looked to be a concrete column. It was being lowered into a 4 story building that had no roof, giving him the a good summary of the damages to it. Shikamaru constantly looked between the operator and the Crane itself, and had already gained a general sense of how to work the machine. But he decided there was no way to figure out how it functioned with out looking inside of it. The same went for most of the equipment around, which was almost disappointing since he couldn't do that.

For the first time he felt a curiosity, a very strong curiosity, that made him want to see and understand everything this world had to offer. One that extended past his usual laziness. Gai was able to teach him everything to know about anything in the time that moved, since that was Gai's strong point. 'I wonder if he knows how that works.'

"Shikamaru."

Shikamaru tilted his head backwards, just enough to catch a glimpse of Lee walking towards him. "Guess you found me."

Lee sat down on the ground next to him and crossed his legs, glancing outward at the active city. "How do you feel, any pain?"

Shikamaru shook his head "Not anymore."

Lee was glad to hear that, he'd been afraid for him for a while since he wasn't sure what was happening to Shikamaru. He knew making a big move like spanning a 2,000 year gap in time would force their bodies to adjust to things like lifestyle and environmental aspects now. People had built up curtain immunities to chemicals, diseases and other biological agents, they had lost Chakra but they had had vaccinations and mutated genetics on their side. Lee wasn't nearly as effected as Shikamaru was, since his genetics had mutated already into a stage that lost the ability to use Chakra but gained certain other traits. "That's good to hear."

Shikamaru turned back toward the heavy machinery working to repair damage, with these type of innovations created now a days it was possible to repair more solidly built structures in a quarter of the time. It was amazing, what more could he say?

"Ah, I almost forgot." Lee called out abruptly, he came looking for Shikamaru for a reason. "Gai-sensei said he found some thing very interesting, he wants us to take a look at it."

! - ! - !

"Iruka." Naruto looked up his favorite teacher who was standing above him, bearing food. "Are you alright? You looked pretty bad yesterday."

Iruka smiled and nodded "Yeah, I'm fine."

Sasuke, now fully dressed, sat down on a chair next to the couch, then looked up at Iruka and a very inquiring Asuma. "What are you doing here?"

"I had to check up on you guys." Iruka said "I didn't like the idea of you guys being in a house where the food was almost as old as Konohamaru...Naruto, where did you get that Ramen?"

Everyone in the room looked toward Naruto, who started to feel uneasy "My stash."

"You have a stash?" Asuma opened the door that lay on the wall opposite of the couch, looking around the living room. He was curious to look around the famous Uchiha mansion, noticing how good every looked as if it had been perfectly preserved, just in need of dusting. "You've only been here for one day, how do have a stash?"

Naruto smirked "My secret."

Konohamaru looked up from the TV that Naruto have somehow got to work with out power, he was still trying to figure that out. "How did you know we were here, it took me hours to find Naruto and Sasuke."

Iruka, currently looking around and partially cleaning out the kitchen. "I just thought about it, where else would you guys go."

"Really...how did you know we'd all be here?" Sasuke asked.

"I just knew." Iruka was sure that the three of them couldn't stay away from each other, even after something like that . "This stuff is really old." Iruka looked around the refrigerator, not even wanting to comment on the sight let alone the smells "I hope you didn't eat anything Naruto."

Naruto looked back offensively "Hey! Why are you picking on me?"

Iruka reentered the living room, figuring the clean up was a job best left for another day. "Because you'll eat anything."

"You know." Asuma came from upstairs, glancing back with every other step he took "This place needs a lot of work, a few paint jobs, small repairs. If you want I might be able help you out with some of these...You know, you really should make more noise when you come in." Asuma, being the only one that noticed, saw Kakashi and a quite bored looking Zabuza nearby.

Sasuke looked up at the pair, then closed his eyes again "Why do you keep doing that?"

"Because I love that look on your face." Kakashi gave a small wave to the group "Looks like everyone's here, what's the occasion?"

Sasuke snorted annoyedly "That's what I want to know."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Shikamaru and Lee looked curiously over Gai's shoulder at the book in his hand. Gai sat in a chair in his bed room, happy to say that he'd finished every repair needed to his home in record time, was holding an old text book "I borrowed this from Asuma, he took a class in High School on Konoha History, half the book about things that happened in your time." Gai said.

"So what did you want to show us?" Lee asked.

Gai flipped the page and pointed to a passage, a photocopy of an old letter from that time period. "Since everything above ground was destroyed during the storm back then, there were few things that could actually be recovered. This was one of them, dated for this particular year and addresses both of you specifically."

Lee and Shikamaru read over the letter from inside the book, it had been sent by Kiba just as Gai said before, being a recount of what happened so far. It wasn't a very good experience, though they were giving Konoha some much needed help as intended, they each had their own set of problems. What really stood out was how Kiba constantly repeated his disapproval about being turned into a werewolf, after that he briefly spoke of the reoccurring demons that had been after them. And also, a Jutsu Neji had been very adamant about them learning, so much so that he left a scroll containing instructions for Overclocking. Of course for Shikamaru's use.

"Yes, this was defiantly written by Kiba for us." Lee said decidedly, since they were the only ones who understood why the letter was written like it was. "Gai-sensei...what happened to them?"

"Unfortunately." Gai said solemnly. "Each of them were killed by the very demons mentioned in that letter."

Lee and Shikamaru looked at each other "What?" Lee yelled in surprise "All of them were killed!"

"Well, assumed dead, only two people's body was actually confirmed." Gai said, flipping around in the book... "And that was Umizuki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."

"Hmm..." Shikamaru was somewhat saddened to hear of there fate, but not surprised. They had been dealing with demons, from the legends about them some of a very powerful nature

"You should be proud of them, SDI may have been the only thing that saved Konoha after that storm." Gai told them "And if you want to know more about it in detail, there are a number of investigational books that were written about it. I think there was even another letter found."

"Really?" Lee asked "What was it about."

Gai thought about it for a moment "I not sure, but I'll try to find it for you."

! - ! - !

! - !- !

Zabuza hadn't said much of anything since he arrived, just barely a passive answer when he was asked something. He was only here on behalf of Kakashi, not even bothering to pay attention most of the time as if he was sleep, in fact he had been sleeping on his feet though few people could tell. That was until something in particular caught his interest.

Konohamaru also hadn't said much, only watching TV for the better part of his stay at Sasuke's house. Everyone probably thought he just really liked Fear factor, or had been deprived of TV so long that he was happy to watch anything, even that he'd wasn't really paying attention to it but was thinking instead. He'd been waiting very patently, so concentrated on his waiting that he flinched when what he'd been waiting for finally came to pass.

We're bringing you live into the Fox 8 newsroom, interrupting your regularly scheduled program to bring you Breaking News. We're just received word of a hostage situation unfolding as we speak involving, believe it or not, the CEO and network president of CNN...

Konohamaru almost fell off of his seat when he heard that, 'Wait a minute...could this be it?' Konohamaru looked up and watched as Zabuza stood over him, taking an interest in this for what ever reason.

"Huh? What's with you guys?" Naruto asked.

Konohamaru just pointed toward the TV and leaned forward even farther.

He was somehow abducted from his office earlier today, investigators speculate it was a planned abduction and apparently the assailant or assents were very good at covering their tracks. Cameras were forced off line with electromagnetic disruption devices, and get this, no one in the building even knew he was gone until the abductor(s) announced it to all local Television networks a few moments ago. Now, we don't know why this was possibly done and police aren't releasing anymore information at this time...

Wait...Yes...Just like before it seems the abductors, I should say abductor, is bypassing the police and giving information directly to local TV stations. We've just confirmed this is a single effort of one man whom we've learned the location and identity of. Hoshigaki Kisame, fugitive of the Mist --

"!" 'It is him!' Konohamaru shouted to himself, immediately springing from the couch and sitting down in front of the TV.

"Kisame?" Sasuke glanced toward the screen curiously, "That sounds familiar...!" Now he remembered, it had been the same man that had been with his brother. "Him..."

"You know him?" Kakashi asked.

"He was with my brother back in Orochimaru's tower." Sasuke told them with a sense of bitterness. "They were working together."

Everyone else started paying a little more attention.

! - ! - !

Itachi waited patiently, watching the TV casually. He hadn't found out any detailed information on Kisame's mission, and it seemed to easy for him to need help, so he didn't ask. The only thing he knew was that this wasn't Kisame's official mission, he didn't even know the purpose of him going through all of this trouble of kidnapping. It seemed pointless Though he was curious as to how this would turn out.

! - ! - !

"I...I can't keep up with you." Shikamaru fell backwards on to the ground with heavy breathes, clinching the soft grass on the outskirts of Konoha. This was the same place that they first met Sasuke, Naruto and Konohamaru, he barely had time to notice it. He also notice that it was it was only wide empty plains, which meant the trees of Konoha's forest never grew back.

Lee turned back after hearing Shikamaru fall, "?" he leaned over the boy, his hands resting on his knees. "Your really tired?"

"How can you keep going like this?" He asked between pants "We've been running for miles."

Lee smiled and rubbed the back of his head "Going long distances was always easy for me."

'His stamina is amazing.' Shikamaru dropped his head and inhaled one last deep breath, then his breathing normalized. 'There's no way I can keep up with a person like him, he has too much energy.' "Why don't we take a break for a while."

"Shikamaru, you always want to take a break." Lee sat down next to him, knowing that Shikamaru wouldn't get back up for a while. "Alright then."

Shikamaru let his body fall back on to the ground with a loud, tired thud, it had never felt so good to lay down. He already felt his eyes closing and himself slowly drifting to sleep. "What do you think about this place?"

Lee laid down next to him, staring aimlessly toward the blue sky and the scattered clouds. He didn't know where to start. "I never could have imagined a world anything like this. I could spend my whole life in the past and never think of one of the most simple things they have here."

"Sounds like your enjoying this time."

"It's simply...awesome."

! - ! - !

"So, anything new?" Asuma returned to the Uchiha residence after a small trip outward, everyone else seemed to be highly interested in this for one reason or another, so he figured he should be too.

"They've got something right now." Konohamaru said anxiously, he'd inched steadily closer to the TV since Asuma's departure.

Fox 8 is back with you again with more breaking coverage on the hostage situation we began covering about 20 minutes ago. Police have blocked off and cleared out most of this downtown hotel where the CEO and President of CNN had been staying in room 719 on the 7th floor. This was clearly a very well premeditated and planed abduction, though motives are unclear and demands haven't been issued despite negotiation attempts...Police have confirmed a bomb threat announced by the abductor, who earlier said that every entrance and exit had been equipped with explosives and warned entry would result in detonation...

Hold on...I've just received new information from our news room. Demands have been made, I repeat, demands have been made. Hoshigaki Kisame is requesting surprisingly for, get this, air time...No, correction, he is selling air time. For what you might ask, well as he describes it, for a reality show determining with the hostage's life. He's offering a live feed to any network willing to pay the price of 5 million dollars--

"You can't be serious." Iruka said with evident surprise. "How dose he expect to possibly pull this off. He must know there is no way he can make it out. Why is he doing this at all?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sasuke asked. "He wants just what he's asking for."

Naruto shrugged "I don't get it. No body is going to buy something like that."

"Basically, the money most likely doesn't matter. I'm not even sure why he's asking for it." Kakashi took Konohamaru's spot on the couch and sat down under Zabuza who was watching from there. "A person skilled enough to pull something like this off so effectively could have found a much easier way to get it, he wants attention."

Iruka shook his head "There's no way this is going to work, he kidnapped the head of one of the largest news media networks, they're not going to bargain with him."

"Why not?" Asuma retrieved a cigarette from his pocket, placing in his mouth while he reached for a lighter. "The police may not, but media is most likely interested."

"Come on, there's no way they would do that." Naruto said surely, "A news network would be more focused on getting their head guy back instead of putting on shows."

"It's the media." Zabuza told him, and coming in quite unexpectedly "Their main goal is to supply information that most viewers would be interested in hearing."

"He's right." Asuma finally found his lighter in his vest, raising the flame to the tip of the cigarette until he was sure it had ignited before returning the lighter to it's place. "Do you remember the TD district bomber a few years back?"

Naruto nodded "Yeah."

"Well what did he ask for? Nothing in particular but he said once everyone heard him out he would stop the bombings. The networks listened and gave him what he wanted unwillingly, continuous and constant coverage. Though he said some pretty horrible, they still put him on. Which was why he kept bombing because he knew he'd get the level of attention he wanted, and that's what he got."

"So your really think Kisame's going to get what he's asking for?" Iruka asked curiously.

"He just did." Zabuza's voice intruded again unexpectedly "CNN just brought his broadcast, they're going to put him live in 15 minutes. I assume the money is being put into a loop of fake and untraceable transactions until he can get it in cash, or at least that's what I would do. "

Sasuke snorted "They're actually paying millions of dollars to a manic so they can put on TV while he commits crimes."

"...It looks that way." Konohamaru was rather confused, mostly for the same reasons everyone else was, but mainly he was trying to figure out where Kisame was going with this. "Fox, ABC, they just bought in too." 'Boss...what are you doing? There has to be a reason for him to do something like this and then let everyone know about it. I thought Akatsuki was suppose to do sneaking missions.'

"So why do you think they bought in?" Naruto asked.

"Simply because one network did, if one network broadcast something like this exclusively then they get all the viewers." Kakashi said "If one person can do it, then we can too."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"What is it Gai-sensei?" Lee asked, once again returning to Gai's room where he was now working on a lap top with fully charged batteries.

"Well unfortunately I couldn't find all the second letter, but I did dig up something interesting." Gai turned the screen towards Lee "From what was pieced together of it, it was determined that this was also sent from one of SDI's member to this time. It was for you specificity Lee, a scroll for some type of extensive Jutsu training technique form a person named Neji."

"Neji?" Lee looked down at the screen questioningly, confirming what Gai had said though all if it seemed incomplete "Where's the rest?"

"Like I said, only half of the letter along with the scroll was recovered. But this one was created after the one I showed you before, and though there's only half of it you can tell he was asking a question before he explained what was in the scroll, that was the part lost."

"So I guess I'll never know what he asked." Lee didn't feel to bad about it, how could he respond to it? "But why would Neji send me a Jutsu? He knows I can't use Chakra."

Shikamaru finished looking over the transcribed scroll and gained a general understanding of it. 'Is this...even viable?' "I think Neji might have something here, that is if what he's proposing is possible."

! - ! - !

"Wow, they are really going to go through with this." Iruka waited with a sense of intrigue as the news cast made it's final remarks before board casting Kisame's transmission. His only thought was that this was really planned out if he had the equipment to do something like this.

The blank screen cut in abruptly to Kisame, this was it.

! - ! - !

"First off, hello to everyone watching, I bet you all are wondering what the hell is going on..." Kisame thought about that for a second, then retracted the statement "Nevermind, I bet everyone already knows every detail there is to know, the news has been saying it over and over for the last hour. But just as a little recap for all of you who just tuned in..."

Kisame turned the camera toward a chair were a very frightened looking man was bound and gag. "I took that guy hostage, why? Because I'm going to play a little game, This is my reality show. The object is simple, there are 6 shots this grenade launcher. I'll fire 5 of them." The Camera shifted toward the gun he was referring to which was pointed toward the man and connected remotely to a trigger Kisame was spinning between his fingers " 5 of them are blanks, one of them isn't. I'm thinking of calling it who wants to blow up a millionaire. Doesn't matter, all of these reality shows just copy each other."

Kisame paused for a moment while the Camera angles shifted, another thing controlled by the remote in his hand. "I know you all are waiting to see it, but first, I have one simple question for everyone. Why are you watching this?" He asked.

! - ! - !

Kisame looked directly in the camera, making Konohamaru feel like he was looking directly at him, maybe that was the effect he was going for.

"Maybe you want to see this guy blown into a million pieces." Kisame said "Maybe your seeing this crazy bastard on TV and waiting to see what he's going to do next, Or your watching a guy like me and want marvel on how much smarter then me you are. Possibly your just watching this because it's on, no...rather because the networks put it on. Think about it, so far I've committed 3 crimes and you all have been glued to me every second, makes you wonder exactly how far networks will go for ratings? Well, a few million dollars and almost breaking the law is how far they're going for a reality show and ratings higher then the last super bowl. More importantly the question is how far you as the viewer are willing to let them go?

"Most importantly I'd like to say thank you to the audience, because with out you, I wouldn't be here." Kisame smirked, The camera shifted again toward the man tied up who looked like he'd just seen a ghost, it seemed like he realized his time was up. "Hell, you guys aren't watching to hear me talk, and I hate those reality shows that have those long breaks in-between the action. Let's get to it!"

The camera shifted to a wide view of the hostage and the grenade launcher. "Fire shot one." Kisame pressed a button and a shot fired out of the grenade launcher, but it disappeared in a flash of light and a cloud of smoke. "A blank, let's see shot two!" The man could be heard screaming frightenly behind the gag and flinching as another shot launched in a loud bang, another flash and more smoke came. "2 out of 5, let's see if he can go for 3!"

Kisame pressed the button, firing his third shot that seemed to be louder then the others, but only a quick flash of light and smoke came. The man looked like he was about to have a heart attack "How lucky is this guy, let's see, number 4!" The fourth round fired, it was deafeningly loud, and the man was knocked backwards to the ground in the chair. That looked like it was it.

"Another blank, he really is lucky." Kisame was right, the man had just fell backwards out of fear. "Let's see if that luck holds for one more shot..." the camera view shifted unexpectedly to right in front of the grenade launcher just as it fired. A loud bang and a flash of red came right before the picture cut off into static.

Everyone sat there, silently watching, waiting for what would happen next, if something would happen next.

"I think..." Asuma started. "He just blew up the audience."

"So what happened?" Naruto asked anxiously, "Did the guy get killed or not?"

"That wasn't the point." Konohamaru sat unmoving, still staring at the TV though not watching it. '..., how is he going to get out of there? Come on Boss, you can't get caught!'

Sasuke, sick of TV already, stood up and headed for the stairs, also feeling slightly annoyed that so many people were in his house.

! - ! - !


	19. Chapter 19: The haunted Uchiha House

Chapter 19: The Haunted Uchiha House

"I'll give it to you Iruka." Asuma looked up at the nearly completed framework of Iruka's plane currently being rebuilt. The frame itself was reinforced and there was thick, armored steel panels behind it covering the engine and internal machinery for an extra layer of defense. Over that was a thick layer of fire resistant covering to keep things from burning to an extent. "You really can do a lot of work in a short period of time..." Asuma looked around the hanger, finding the floodlights and other equipment suggesting that Iruka was here, but there was no Iruka. "Iruka?"

Iruka's hand reach out from under the plane, clinching one of the steel beams that made up the frame and pulled himself out from beneath it, he was covered in oil stains and had a wrench in hand. "Hello Asuma."

"You know, you look really cute like that." Asuma knelt down next to him and smiled, thinking it would be better not to have a lit cigarette around an oil covered Iruka.

Iruka blushed and refrained from rubbing his head, instead he pushed himself back underneath the frame and continued working on some concealed part.

"How do you know so much about this stuff? There aren't many people who can rebuild a plane."

"I was an Engineer through out High school and college, don't you remember?"

"Oh yeah." Asuma nodded "Uh...what kind of Engineer?"

"A few things, technical, electrical, networking, general, I'm sure there were more but I forgot."

"You do all of that?" Asuma sat down, putting his back against the frame "Why?"

"I don't know, I was always interested in how things worked." Iruka tossed the tool aside, peeking his hand out and feeling along the ground for a flood light nearby. "Gai helped me out with the engine, he knows more about it then me."

Asuma shook his head, Iruka was always being modest, "Need help?"

"Yeah, I'm glad you asked. There's still some new equipment I need to put in the cockpit...Oh, that reminds me!"

! - ! - !

"Kakashi!"

Kakashi sighed in annoyment, he was tempted to act as if didn't hear him since he knew it was coming eventually. Every month or so Gai challenged him to some kind of match up in an attempt to gain superiority over him or whatever the motive was, he wasn't sure why Gai did it. Which was odd since Gai's motives were usually clear. Kakashi pushed his hands in his pocket and turned around, Gai was standing there, his fist clinched tightly and a quite determined look upon his face. "This again?"

"Kakashi, I challenge you to a test of strength!" Gai said.

"Well, I might as well get this over with now." Kakashi knew Gai would just be more persistent if he put it off. "What do you want to do this time?"

Shikamaru waded casually through the sea of people traveling busily around Konoha, on a particularly nice day. The sky was clear and devoid of any clouds, the sun shined brightly over head, it was cold with a frequent warn breeze, the last in the season before winter, a great day for sleeping outside. Which he would have been doing right now if he didn't need to look for Lee, who could be anywhere in a city this big and prone to becoming frequently lost due to curiosity. His best chance to find Lee was to ask someone who usually knew his whereabouts, that person happened to be directly ahead of him standing in front of Kakashi.

"Hey Gai." Shikamaru stopped along side of the two, resting his hands behind his head. That's when he noticed he was interrupting something. "Uh...?"

Gai glanced over at Shikamaru and then up toward the sky "We'll have a race."

"Race?" This would be over faster then Kakashi had thought, he was much faster then Gai. "Fine, were are we running too?"

"No not a foot race." Gai corrected, nudging his head toward his car.

Kakashi's chance's of winning just reduced substantially, not that he minded, it would be over that much quicker. "Whatever, let's just do this already."

"How childish." Shikamaru shook his head. "Have either of you seen Lee, he's been acting kinda strange since yesterday and I was worried about him."

Gai pointed over Shikamaru's shoulder "He's right there."

Shikamaru turned around and found himself face to face with Lee's chest, since Lee was taller then him, and something was different about him. Hmm...He had the unusual bright smile, same hair, same green body suit and bright orange weights on his wrist and ankles, what was it?...Oh, it was the fact he had a pile of dirt in his attentively outstretched hand. "Lee? Uh...Why are you holding dirt."

"This isn't just dirt, look at it." Lee poked at it with his free finger "It's high grade, perfectly moisturized soil."

"Yeah but why are you holding it?" Shikamaru looked around questioningly, this was just too much, Lee had lost his mind. "Are you ok?"

Lee nodded happily, "Remember Neji's letter? Well I spent all of last night researching it--"

"Is that what you were doing?" Shikamaru remembered last night quite clearly, Lee really did seem like he'd lost his mind even past his normal standards. After a round on trying to get over the awe of Gai's computer and the internet, Lee had tried to work the thing figuring that he's seen Gai do it so he could. Apparently he couldn't, and nearly broke it trying until Gai finally woke up at 4 in the morning and stopped Lee from taking out 5 hours of frustration on the machine. "Oh."

"Well I'm going to try the technique."

"And what is the technique."

"There is an acorn planted here, I have to hold it like this until it sprouts."

"Like that? Is it really possible?" Shikamaru inquired. "Isn't your arm hurting?"

Lee smiled. "My arm is tired and in horrible pain...Hey! Are they about to race?"

Shikamaru turned around, watching Gai and Kakashi getting ready. "Yes."

Lee grabbed Shikamaru's arm with his free hand "Let's go to the finish line."

! - !- !

"Thanks Iruka." Naruto rubbed his full stomach gratefully as he emerged from the kitchen to where Sasuke was sitting in the living room. He wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck from behind the couch. "You have the biggest most creepy house I have ever seen, I still haven't finished looking around. Did you know you have tunnels under your house?"

"Be careful in the basement Naruto, you know the power is still out." Sasuke warned "If you get lost I won't come looking for you so if you die it wont be my fault."

"Yeah yeah." Naruto waved off the comment discardingly "You know this place is really creepy, everything is call old and dusty."

"Do you really want to even take the time to do this Iruka?" Sasuke asked. "It's a lot of work, and you don't have to be bothered with it."

"Of course, and Naruto is right about the creepy thing." Iruka walked into the living room and opened the door to the dining room where Asuma was mixing paint. "This place really needs a lot of work." He sounded happy when he talked about it, apparently Iruka was the type that liked these kinds of jobs, or just helping out, probably both. "We're going to start upstairs so just avoid...Where is Naruto?"

Sasuke looked up "Oh great, he's in the basement again. He's going to get hurt down there."

! - ! - !

"Thanks Grandpa." Konohamaru turned abruptly from the table he and his grandfather had been sitting at in the elegant dinning room in a particular wing of the white house. Konohamaru always got dizzy when he looked up in here, and the echo in the empty room only made the feeling worse. "I'll be back later."

Sarutobi sat his chin on his cuffed hands and looked at Konohamaru carefully, wondering how far did he think he was going to get. "Konohamaru, aren't you forgetting something?"

Apparently 7 steps, new record.

Konohamaru shook his head "Nope, I got my scarf, I'm good." He said, moving more quickly toward the door at the end of the room. He was abruptly hit in the back of the head with something hard when he tried. "Oww!" Konohamaru rubbed the back of his head and turned around to see the familiar bottle of medicine laying on top of his scarf. "Awww!"

Sarutobi rose from his seat and stood over Konohamaru. "Take you medicine."

"I don't even feel bad anymore." Konohamaru wined "And this stuff taste horrible." He was replied with a water bottle slamming into his forehead, definitely a yes.

"Most things that are good for you do." Sarutobi stood over Konohamaru to make sure that he was taking it, watching him put the small capsule in his mouth. "Drink the water." He said firmly. Konohamaru scowled and opened the bottle, drinking the content hastily before tossing the empty container aside. That would appear to be the end of it but Sarutobi knew his grandson well "Open your mouth." he folded his arms and watched Konohamaru open his mouth, completely empty... "Lift up your tongue."

Konohamaru rolled his eyes and lifted his tongue where the pill was perched beneath.

"Swallow it."

Konohamaru, with no choice, swallowed the bitter medicine. "Happy now?"

Sarutobi rubbed Konohamaru's head and smirked "Very, now get out of here."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Are you done with this little game of yours?" Zabuza leaned against a wall in a space between two buildings not small enough to be considered an alley two miles away from the race's starting point. "Since you lost anyway."

"Glad your in a good mood today." Kakashi placed his hands on Zabuza's shoulder and pressed his forehead against Zabuza's "Besides, he's a former professional racer, I didn't expect to win."

Zabuza rolled his eyes "No wonder you lost, thinking weak like that."

Kakashi smiled "You act like you could have done a better job."

Zabuza snorted "Of course I could have, since I am better at this sort of thing then you."

"Really? What sort of thing would that be?" Kakashi asked as if he didn't know what Zabuza was talking about. "I don't remember you ever beating me at anything."

"I've beaten you every time we fought." Zabuza said "If we would have finished then--"

"Yeah right Zabuza, the last time we fought I had you pined to the ground."

"There's no point in auguring over this, we can settle it right now." Zabuza said impishly "If you think you can beat me then try it, don't say anything if you get your ass kicked."

Kakashi pulled down his mask, brushing his lips against Zabuza's neck "We'll see about that."

"And don't try to tempt me this time." Zabuza said firmly "This is not a sex thing."

"This time? I didn't do anything." Kakashi's smile widened "That was all your fault, I just did this." Kakashi shoved Zabuza's back forcefully against the wall and pressed his chest against Zabuza's, it honestly wasn't meant as a sex thing at the time, but it was now.

Zabuza took a deep breath, feeling his blood starting to pump from his racing heart. Things always happened to him when Kakashi did this, ever since the first time they fought "I hate you, you know that right?" He replyed softly.

"Thin line between love and hate." Kakashi slowly reached up, slipping his finger under the top of the bandages surrounding Zabuza's nose and mouth, pulling them down with soft touches. Kakashi placed his hand on Zabuza's cheek, leaning forward...Zabuza opened his mouth softly and closed his eyes, Kakashi was close enough that he could feel his breath across his skin. But Kakashi stopped, so near that Zabuza could practically feel the kiss.

"Kakashi."

"You know." Kakashi whispered, staring into Zabuza's eyes "I never make the first move, you should know that by now. "

Zabuza leaned forward lightly, so close that it could be passed for contact "Neither do I, if you want me, come and get me." He smirked.

"I much rather prefer this...so close that you can practically taste what's about to come." Kakashi waited, waiting for one of them to give in and admit defeat...he was almost sure it would be himself."

'He never acted like that when I challenged him with something.' Gai watched the small exchange from the hood of his car, somewhat amused. 'Ever...every time he just get's annoyed with me, but Zabuza...hmm... interesting.'

Shikamaru waved a hand in front of the man's eyes, "Gai." He called out, shaking him lightly.

"Oh, huh?"

Shikamaru glanced at Gai, who was still watching, and then Kakashi and Zabuza whom he was watching. It didn't take him long to figure out this even though it was something that wasn't readily obvious. "Gai?"

"What is it?"

Shikamaru was about to say something but he stopped and thought better of it, he just shook his head "Nevermind."

! - ! - !

"Sasuke." Naruto called out, holding on to the wall in the basement with a flashlight in hand "Sasuke!"

"I swear this is the last time I'm coming down here to find you." Sasuke growled, stomping down the stairs into the darkness of the level below the house.

"I'm not lost...this time." Naruto called out, turning the flashlight on to the Uchiha and then back towards his source "Oh, and watch that--"

"Uuhhfff!"

"...wall."

Sasuke rubbed his head before steeping to the side and continuing, this time being more careful since their were so many halls and corridors that lead beyond the house's reach, he just ran into a split for one of them. "What is it Naruto? I don't need to be down here in the dark."

"Do you have any secret passages in your house?" Naruto asked.

"No, why?"

Naruto shined the light on to a spot on the wall, and then kicked it lightly. It didn't sound like concrete... "What's this then?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto, then knelt down to the wall and knocked on it to confirm. "I don't know...it could be for piping."

"That's what I thought, but look." Naruto pointed the light up to the ceiling where pipes hung above them. "So what's in here?"

"Hmm...Only one way to find out." Sasuke drew his arm back and punched the wall, his fist smashed right through it, it happening to be dry. With mild curiosity Sasuke ripped through the fake wall and widened the hole, tossing aside the dry wall to open a narrow stairwell. Naruto didn't hesitate, he slid inside flashlight first. "Wait a minute Naruto, you don't just jump into something like this, It could be dangerous down there."

"Only one way to find out right?" Naruto called back, moving quickly down the stone staircase, with Sasuke having no choice but to follow. "What do you think is down here, it looked like someone was trying to hide it."

"Knowing my family it could be anything, and this household has been in the same spot for 2500 years. And this passage looks fairly old...it could cave in for all we know."

"This is exciting huh?" Naruto smiled and ran ahead anxiously, so fast that he ran into another wall. It was stacked with weakly placed bricks, ones which he crashed through and fell face first into a pile of. "Aaaahhhhha!"

Sasuke shook his head, reaching forward in the darkness until he felt Naruto's waist, and then he pulled him out of the heap, flashlight and all. "Are you alright?"

"Oww.." Naruto rubbed his head lightly. "Yeah."

"You can't run head first into something like this, I told you it was dangerous."

"How was I suppose to know the wall would break!" Naruto shouted back, trudging over the rubble with flashlight in hand. "Hey wait... Look."

Sasuke's eyes followed the flashlight as it rolled over the room ahead of them. It was filled with...dolls, thousands and thousands of them, a few of them headless or missing body parts but all arranged neatly on shelves surrounding them. "Ok...creepy."

"I don't get it." Naruto's voice was a little bit more unsure of his course of action now, looking around at all of the dolls who's eyes seemed to be focused on him...this was so creepy. "Why would somebody put up two fake walls to block off this?"

"Naruto...come here and take a look at this..."

Naruto turn toward the Uchiha and walked in his direction. "What is it?"

Sasuke held up two dolls in particular, one of them with an orange shirt baring the Konoha symbol and a pair of black pants that had rather exact resemblance to Naruto, and the other with a blue shirt and black pants that looked just like Sasuke. "What am I suppose to say about something like this?...Are you just trying to screw with me?"

"Are you serious! No way." Naruto took the one that looked like him...there was a small creaking sound that echoed through out the darkness right after he did... "The hell with this!" Naruto tossed it aside and made a mad dash toward the exit.

"Naruto..." Sasuke looked around at the dolls, all of them who's eyes seem to follow him when he moved, and that sound that didn't have a source...'Maybe I should just--' "Hey! Don't leave me down here! You have the flashlight!" Sasuke ran after him.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

The next day, Konohamaru finally managed to sneak away and make it to Itachi and Kisame's usual safe house. He the door was unusually unlocked, which could never be a good thing. '...'

He found Kisame in the kitchen and immediately latched on to his leg "Boss! Your not dead!"

"The hell?" Kisame looked back in mild surprise, though he heard someone coming and figured it was him, since Konohamaru was the only one who could walk in to his house like that and get away with it. "You have to leave...and what are you talking about Dead?"

"I haven't seen you in 3 days, not after you kidnapped that guy and got on TV." Konohamaru looked up at Kisame, at first wondering what he was doing but another more important question arose "What...did you mean when you said that."

Kisame turned back to what he was doing, standing in front of a rather large pot on the stove. "Said what?"

"On TV, right before you shot that guy...wait, did you kill him?"

Kisame smirked "No, scared the hell out of him, but no. Oh man, that was some of my best work.--Are you talking about what I said to Orochimaru?"

"No." Konohamaru shook his head "Before that."

"Your thinking too hard, what I said was self-explanatory." He replied discardingly.

Konohamaru shrugged, he didn't bother to pry deeper since it would only serve to annoy Kisame. "Oh yeah, before I forget!" Konohamaru smiled and reach in to his collar of scarf, pulling out a small box. "Happy birthday."

'Eh? What?' Kisame looked down at Konohamaru "How did you find out?"

"Itachi told me."

'Itachi, what the hell did you do that for?' Kisame sighed to himself.

"I know you don't want to make a big deal out of it or anything like that, and neither do I but still... What's wrong with you?" Konohamaru noticed something different about Kisame.

"This little red bitch in my chest, that's what's wrong with me."

Konohamaru laughed.

Kisame wanted to kick himself, he felt like he was going soft when he took the small box and looked over it carefully. If it was from anyone else "Aw Damnit, you can stay...at lest until tonight."

"Tonight? What's going on Tonight?"

"If you have to ask that then you don't know me very well." Kisame looked at him.

"Oh." Konohamaru shrugged, "Aren't you gonna open it?"

"Later." Kisame turned back to what he was doing, trying not to think too much and just focus on what he was doing.

"So whatcha making? Your not poisoning somebody again are you?" The look Konohamaru gave him almost made Kisame laugh.

"Technically yes, but I'm going to use it for something else before a put the poison in." Kisame snickered impishly, just thinking of the uses.

"It smells really good..." Konohamaru lifted his nose into the air and inhaled the sent. "It smells like...Is that Chocolate?"

"Yeah."

"Oohhhh! Can I have some?"

Kisame rolled his eyes, he shouldn't have said yes and he knew it, he'd never get Konohamaru out of his hair if he did. But he couldn't resist, especially if he'd gone through all the trouble of getting him a gift. "Fine, just don't ask for anymore."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

It was a very interesting thing to watch, and that's what Shikamaru did, he didn't ask questions, he just watched in slight amusement. Lee, getting a chance to rest his arm during sleeping, woke up with a yawn and a light stretch of his free hand, he was always very aware of the soil still in his other hand even after sleeping. Faithfully Lee outstretched his hand and checked over the dirt, then with another yawn he got out of bed, Shikamaru still laying there observing. Usually Shikamaru didn't get up this early, but this was just so fun to watch.

Lee attempted to put on his usual bodysuit, though it was nearly impossible with one hand. "Need any help?" Shikamaru asked with clear amusement, the expressions and position Lee had while trying to get dressed were priceless. Shikamaru even laughed out loud on countless occasions.

"No." Lee called back stubbornly, falling to the ground with himself tangled up with in the green clothing.

"Aren't you putting it on the wrong way?" Shikamaru leaned over the side of the bed and looked down at the fallen Lee.

"Uh...Ok, help me."

! - ! - !

Sasuke moan lightly, rolling over in the large bed and expecting to put his arm around his favorite blond only to find the other side of the bed was empty. He opened his eyes and looked around, yes, Naruto was gone, and at 8 in the morning, a time when he would usually be sleeping. "Naruto?" Sasuke pushed himself up and took a more defining look around, 'Not again.' He sighed and forced himself to get up.

After putting on some clothing, Sasuke proceeded downstairs just in time to see Iruka arriving. "Hello Sasuke." Iruka said cheerfully, carrying more paint "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"You didn't, I was looking for Naruto, have you seen him?" Sasuke asked.

"Just a minute ago, he went downstairs."

"Great, I keep telling him it's dangerous down there!" Sasuke shook his head in disapproval before walking toward the open door to the basement.

"What's with him?" Asuma came from behind Iruka and sat down two more cans of paint.

"I'm not sure, but it's probably nothing but the usual." Iruka discarded the last actions of Sasuke as normal. "I'll start in here, you take the living room."

Asuma nodded "Alright."

! - ! - !

Nearly running blindly into everything, Sasuke found his way to the same path from yesterday and proceeded down the stairwell until he saw the rays of a flashlight. "Naruto, what are you doing down here?"

Naruto glanced back, revealing a small bandage on his head from when he'd ran into the wall yesterday. "I-I heard something down here."

Sasuke noticed a hint of fear in Naruto's voice "Your not scared are you."

"I'm telling you, this place is hunted." Naruto looked around with the flashlight again, feeling a fear worse then before. It was way too quite, and those doll's eyes... "We should just put the wall back up and get the hell out of here,"

"Don't be an idiot Naruto." Sasuke told him "Sure it's...creepy, but If this crap is making you that nervous then why don't we just box them all and put them up." Sasuke took another look around, just behind the shelves of dolls he could see a few boxes "See, there are some."

"Are you stupid!" Naruto shouted "This place just screams horror movie, Look at those eyes...they're watching us..."

Sasuke laughed.

"Fine, but don't say anything if you end up dead tomorrow."

! - ! - !

"So what's with them?" Asuma dipped the roller into a tray of white paint and streamed it neatly across the kitchen walls.

"Oh, Naruto thinks the house is hunted." Iruka smiled "It's actually really funny."

"Hn."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"What happened to you two?" Kakashi looked at with an obvious smile on his face, seeing Iruka and Asuma covered head to toe with white paint. Zabuza seemed indifferent but still lightly interested.

"He started it." Iruka pointed an accusing finger at Asuma.

"I did not." Asuma protested, moving carefully across the floor as though not to track paint "You threw it at me first."

"No way." Iruka followed behind him, heading upstairs to get cleaned up.

Kakashi shook his head and laughed lightly "At lest this place looks a lot better..." He said, watching Zabuza walk over to the couch and sit down, folding his arms and closing his eyes. It made him wonder what Zabuza would be doing right now if he wasn't here with him...what did Zabuza usually do when he wasn't with Kakashi? "Zabuza."

"What?"

"I've been wondering something." Kakashi sat down next to him, mainly to keep him from evading the question like he so often did. "About you and Orochimaru, if you were in the Mist country and he was in Sound, then how did you two mange to become enemies?"

"..." Zabuza, as always, was reluctant to discuss anything about himself, even with Kakashi. "Why do you keep asking me things like that?"

"Why don't you ever tell me anything." Kakashi looked him the eyes "You know you can trust me if that's it."

Zabuza grunted.

Still with out an answer, Kakashi sighed. He wanted to know Zabuza just as he said before, he wanted to know why Zabuza was so persistent in getting Orochimaru. "Zabuza, your going to have to tell me eventually."

Zabuza silently stood up and walked away.

"Zabuza...Is it really that bad, that you can't tell me?"

"..."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Did you have a good birthday?" Konohamaru asked.

Kisame laid back on the couch, closing his eyes "You could say that...why am I having this discussion with you? Why are you here again?"

Konohamaru leaned over the back of the couch and looked down at Kisame "I don't know..."

Kisame opened one eye, he could tell by the way Konohamaru said it that he really did know why and he actually had a purpose. "Ok, What do you want, stop stalling and spit it out already."

"Ok, Ok." Konohamaru paused for a moment. "It's about Orochimaru."

Kisame physically grimaced at the sound of that name coming from Konohamaru, it must have been serous. "What?"

"Well...I don't know but ever since he poisoned me I been having these weird dreams. In every one I keep going back to when I got captured and all of it happens all over again..." Konohamaru looked away from Kisame almost as if he was embarrassed. "Why dose that keep happening? No...how do I make it stop?"

Kisame was silent for a moment "Your thinking too much, you keep worrying about that guy. If you stop worrying about if he's going to do something to you then you'll stop having those nightmares."

"But how can I?" Konohamaru asked, his voice becoming a little bit more excited. "He tortured me, he said he was going to come after me! What can I do against someone like him, he kicked my ass, I don't stand a chance against him! If both of my parents were killed by him then how-- "

"Calm down kid." Kisame opened both eyes, locking them with Konohamaru's. "I almost forgot how young you are, your the president's only living relative, you think he's going to let Orochimaru do something to you?" Kisame paused "...Do you think I'm going to let Orochimaru do something to you? Stop worrying about it."

"...I'm thousands of miles away from him and he's still making my life a living hell."

"Only because your letting him, just forget about the son of a bitch already."

"But you don't understand..." Konohamaru turned away from Kisame completely, avoiding eye contact with Kisame. "I know he is going to come after me again for sure, you should have heard him..."

Kisame sat up, he got it now. "Your scared he's going to torture you again..."

"I don't think I can take anymore, I almost told him what he wanted to know...I can stand it again, if he captures me again then I don't think I can make it."

"What could you possibility tell him that would be important?"

"I...know a lot off things." Konohamaru held his head down "I learned about somethings, I always used to see if could spy on my Grandfather when I was younger, or if I could get into restricted areas with out anyone noticing. And I learned a lot from by parents, I heard them talking with Ebisu a lot..." Konohamaru did know things...rather important things about Konoha, especially military wise. "Orochimaru knows I know it, he knows how to get it out of me."

Which meant Orochimaru was going to come back for Konohamaru for sure, since he was the easiest way to obtain that information, Kisame just realized that. "Listen to me Konohamaru, I'm not going to let him touch you, so stop. worrying. about. it."

"...You promise?"

"Yes. Now go somewhere and let me sleep." Kisame hadn't got much of it last night, and it was well worth it.

"Kisame...could you give me some training later."

"Yeah, sure kid."

! - !- !

Kakashi shoved his hands in his pocket, looking up at Iruka's back. Iruka was standing on a box, painting the edge of the hallway wall with a small smile, humming lightly. "Wanna help?"

"Maybe later." Kakashi replied, just content to watch Iruka who was still covered in paint over most of his body. It made him wonder how many layers of paint Iruka and Asuma threw at each other. 'Must have been fun.' Kakashi could easily say he missed how doing little things like this with him made Iruka so happy. "Where's Asuma?"

"Painting the master bed room, I think he just wants to see the house since the Uchiha massacre."

"Uchiha Massacre, is that what it's being called now?'

"I think so, the news changed it so much." Iruka gave a light shrug and continued painting "I think I should have been a painter instead, It's easy, fun, a lot less stressful." Doing jobs like this was always somewhat calming for Iruka, probably why he did so much.

"Well, I'm glad to see your happy." The sight of Iruka smiling always made him smile... "Iruka, can you do something for me, I promise it's not life threatening."

"Sure Kakashi." Iruka jumped off the box he was using to increase his height and turned to face Kakashi. "What is it?"

"Well...I need you to..."

! - ! - !

"That's a very unique challenge Lee." Gai admitted, wishing he'd thought of something like that for himself. "Even if it doesn't work, this will definitely make you a lot stronger."

Lee was laying stomach down on the floor of Gai's kitchen, his arm still outstretched and holding the soil in his palm "I hope so Gai-sensei, this is really hard."

"The harder the challenge, the better it will be when you complete it. Do your best" Gai gave him a thumbs up, which made Lee smile and nod.

"Yes Gai-sensei!"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Sasuke!"

Naruto's voice was the first thing to rang through the house the next morning, Sasuke looked up from his breakfast and Iruka was suddenly distracted from nailing down a floorboard, nearly hitting his finger. The two of them ran downstairs into the dark basement, following the sound of his voice into the formerly hidden path.

"Ha ha, this was really funny Sasuke." Naruto said in a startled voice, pointing the flashlight around at the shelves and shelves full of dolls that had been packaged in the boxes that were now sitting in the center of the room, scorched and burned thoroughly. "Good joke...tell me this was a joke."

"Naruto, I haven't been down here since we boxed this stuff up yesterday." Sasuke said.

"Iruka!" Naruto asked desperately. "Asuma!"

"I haven't been down here, ever. And Asuma's been with me." Iruka walked forward into the darkness with a curious interest, he could be heard, kneeling down in front of something. "I do have to admit this place is very creepy."

"This place is haunted!" Naruto turned face and ran toward the door as fast as he could, only to be grabbed held by Sasuke.

"Calm down Naruto, this place is not haunted." Sasuke said firmly.

Naruto shook his head frantically, "I'm getting the hell out of here!"

"Look Naruto if your that scared I'll prove it to you." Sasuke looked up, trying to think of something that would disprove Naruto's thought of his house being haunted. "I'll...spend the night down here and catch whoever keeps doing this."

Iruka stood up "Hey guys, look at this." He held up two dolls in the particular, ones that looked just like Naruto and Sasuke only with different clothing then before. The one similar to Naruto had on and orange jacket with a black shirt and orange pants, which Naruto was wearing now, and the one similar to Sasuke's had on a blue shirt and white shorts, which Sasuke was wearing. One very defining feature was the bandage on the doll that looked like Naruto, he had the same bandage on his head.

Naruto and Sasuke were silent, allowing another sound to be heard clearly, one similar to steel buckling. "...I could use some company."

The blond shook his head frantically "Iruka." Naruto turned and ran out of the room "Keep Sasuke company."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"So the house is haunted?" Konohamaru asked?

Asuma sat down on the stairs, checking to see if the paint on the wall was dry before he leaned against it "Or so Naruto says."

"A house can't be haunted." Gai leaned against the wall, running his hand through his hair "Even if it was, what dose he expect Lee and Shikamaru to do?"

"I'm not sure, but this is really amusing to watch."

! - ! - !

Iruka opened the door softly, proceeding inside with even softer steps, followed by an annoyed Zabuza. He lead them someplace inside of the abandoned hanger Iruka was currently attempting to fix his half destroyed jet inside of. This room was kind of cramped, the ceiling ran with pipes, the walls were lined with even thicker ones, all connected to various machines and gages."What's the point of this?" Zabuza uttered half under his breath, he was clearly annoyed.

Iruka looked around the small room, filled with dormant machinery that hadn't be running ever since the storm cut out all of the power. There were so many pipes and gages that it almost made Zabuza curious as to their purpose. "You know, I understand why you don't want to say anything about yourself."

"Oh really." Zabuza found that hard to believe "Why then?"

Iruka ran his hand over one of the machines "I don't know everything that's happened so it's hard to say exactly... But It must have been hard for you when you were younger, to give you that much anger and hate. That's a lot of stuff to carry around."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm sure a lot of it is because doing a lot of talking with people is probably really annoying to you, but just think about it." Iruka reached above his head and turned a nozzle, causing the sound of pressure being release to come from the pipe it was connected to. These must have been somehow connected to the equipment he was using to fix his plane. "Something really horrible must have happened to you when you were a child, I'm sure that you didn't have any parents, and being alone is painful enough..."

"Why do you care so much about what happened to me?" Zabuza snorted "People who try and get into my head are really annoying."

"I'm sorry about that." Iruka flipped a switch on a panel mounted to the wall, a motor somewhere in the room started up. "It's just that I'm sure something really bad had to happen to you to make you kill100 of your classmates for no reason. People think your a sociopath, you know there's no cure for that."

"What other people think doesn't concern me." He replied, he lifted his arms carelessly behind his head and trailed behind the other man lazily.

Iruka walked over to a nozzle and turned the handle, making orange lights shine through out the room. He seemed to know what he was doing. "Well if it's any consolation, I don't think your a sociopath. Your too smart for that, the way you killed people just doesn't add up to a crazy person. A few other things, but not crazy." Iruka glanced back at Zabuza. "You don't even seem like the type of person just to senselessly kill people, or at lest... not any more. Something else must have happened... what?"

Zabuza shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I'm not some open book, stop trying to read me."

Iruka smiled and rubbed the back of his head nervously "Well, I'm sorry if I was annoying you... It's just that... I'm just sorry for everything that's happened to you."

"How do you know something happened to me, I could just be just that type of person."

"Nah." Iruka pressed a button, and every orange light became green, followed by more and more sounds of machinery starting up. "I person like you isn't born this way, something makes you this way..." Iruka glanced back at him curiously. "What happened to you?"

"Why are you so persistent in trying to get into my head? You wouldn't like what's inside." Zabuza folded his arms. "Why would you care anyway?"

"I'm not sure, maybe it's because you remind me of Kakashi." Iruka picked up a rather heavy looking gas canister out of the corner and walked over to a machine in the center of the room with it on his shoulder, a generator. "That maybe it, well your my friend now and I want to...hmmm...What drove you to do something like what you did?"

"...Greed mostly." Zabuza said "I couldn't stand being weak or weak people, I wanted power. And the first thing that came to my mind was how 78 years ago, there was a hostile takeover of the Mist country. Mizukage was killed, someone else took over and held control of the country for 25 years until a resistance force assassinated him. If a poorly planed and organized job like that could succeed, how much better of a job could I do."

"Greed huh?" Iruka sighed disappointedly, "What about before you killed your classmates, what happened before then?"

"Stop prying, I don't need someone digging through my life." Zabuza's voice was much more forceful "It's really annoying." Zabuza wasn't the type of person someone wanted to annoy, and he asserted that clearly.

Iruka was didn't reply, leaving only the sound of the machines operating in the small room to fill the quiet. "..."

"..."

There was a long silence between them, it echoed through out the other sounds of machinery. Iruka simply went back to doing what he had been doing, while Zabuza watched.

"...I used to have nightmares back in high school." Iruka said "It was about something that happened to me when I was younger, I couldn't walk into rooms like this for years, I couldn't even go into my own basement." Iruka paused and looked up thoughtful, " ...I stupidly dropped my key in a vent that led down to a boiler room, so I went down to find it. It was a room just like this." Iruka looked around with a hint of dismay when he remembered this.

Zabuza waited and listened as he'd been doing since his arrival, wondering why Iruka was telling him something like this.

"So I came down and started looking for it, it was right here." Iruka took a few steps forward and knelt down on the concrete floor indicatingly. "And I remember that just when I found it I felt someone grab me by the neck and pull me up. The next thing I know I was... well, getting my ass kicked. It was all done from behind, I never saw their faces..." Iruka walked over to the wall on his left "Someone slammed my head into the wall right here, then picked me up and threw me..." Iruka walked back across the narrow path to the machine he was standing at before "And I landed on my stomach right here."

Iruka knelt down in front of it. "Then someone grabbed me by the neck and started slamming my head into the ground. It all happened so fast... I remember that I begged and pleaded for them to stop, and I'm almost sure I asked why this was happening or who was doing it. I couldn't understand why this was happening. Hell, I could barely understand what was happening" Iruka sighed and rubbed his head "Well I ended up laying on the ground, I couldn't move at all. I was bleeding from everywhere, a few of my ribs were broken, and my leg felt like it was..." Iruka paused for a moment, looking up longingly "...And while I was laying there half dead, I couldn't think of anything else but... why didn't I fight back? Why didn't I fight back. Why didn't I fight back..."

There was a silence again as Iruka repeated those words to himself, listen to them become softer with every repartition...

"...You didn't fight back... because you couldn't." Zabuza spoke quietly, staring down at the ground with his own thought. "You couldn't fight back, they were stronger then you and in larger numbers... They were faster, they hit harder, you couldn't fight back, they didn't even give you a chance to fight back... I couldn't fight back"

Iruka looked up directly into Zabuza's eyes, listening to the man repeat those words over and over each time more faintly then the previous. "Tell me... what happened?"

"...My father used to be an ambassador to Konoha, a diplomat, a well like one in Konoha. When I was a very young child, I don't remember the age about 4 or 5...Orochimaru took my father because of who he was, my mother and me included. He was trying to get information out of my father since he was about to go to war with the Leaf country, my father wouldn't give any. So first he tortured my mother in front of both of to get him to talk, it didn't work so... he killed her. It still didn't work, so Orochimaru moved on to me... I remembered everything he did to me... And after 12 hours I begged my father just to tell them or help me, to do something. I couldn't even fight him."

"And he didn't?"

"No, he just said that he couldn't betray Konoha, because it would be treason against the Leaf and the Mist countries. That was all he cared about, he didn't really give I damn what Orochimaru did to me or my mother so long as he kept those secrets. That's what solders do, they discard their emotions and become nothing but tools, he could throw his own life for that but I had nothing to do with it. It was good for me by some manner of luck where ever Orochimaru had been keeping me was attacked by Konoha and I escaped. I left him there, he didn't care about me or my mother, I didn't care about him."

'And that's were all of the anger and hate came from... A person like Zabuza, it made him feel weak not being able to do anything, not being able to save himself and just getting out by luck. But mad enough not to help his father, just to leave him there to die... I guess it would.' Iruka knew that helpless feeling well, especially when it came to Orochimaru, no, rather Kabuto, he felt weak for not being able to stop him. He was never able to stop him... 'So he realized how weak he was and he wanted power, that made him greedy...' "Is that why your going after Orochimaru?"

Zabuza snorted "No."...Then he realized he'd just told Iruka everything he wanted to know, and he didn't even think about it. 'How the hell did he get that out of me?'

Iruka just shook his head "I'm sure your not going to tell me that... well, if it helps any, I'm sorry for what happened to you."

Zabuza curiously looked at Iruka, who even he could tell was genuinely sorry for what happened to him. How could one person be so apathetic to someone like him? The one called Zabuza the devil because all of the things he'd done. To some one he really didn't even know. "Your really a solider?"

Iruka smiled with that same friendly smile he always had."I can't believe it either."

Well, this wasn't so bad, he could get used to staying around these people who always seem to attract trouble... "I get it now, I know why Kakashi likes you so much."

Iruka blushed and looked away "Heh Heh... H-he talks about me?"

"Yes."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Holy Crap!" Lee shot upright, still careful of the soil in his hand. "Hey! Hey you guys wake up!"

It was the middle of the night, and the 4 of them were in the basement of the Uchiha house in the formerly secret passage that once lay there. Naruto was on the ground, clinching a sleeping Sasuke tightly, and Shikamaru had his head on Lee's chest which was thrown off abruptly by Lee's sudden uprising. "Oww, Lee?" Shikamaru placed his hand on the ground behind and sat up, rubbing the back of his head lightly. "What?"

"Ok, stop playing around." Lee said. "Who put all of this stuff back? It's not funny"

Everyone looked around as Lee washed the flashlight over the walls at the shelves of dolls now set back up after being taken down again upon Lee and Shikamaru's arrival. "I know it wasn't Shikamaru." Lee said "He was with me."

"It wasn't Naruto..." Sasuke looked down at a very paranoid Naruto, "He's too scared to touch the things."

"Hey! I'm not scared!"

"Besides, he was nearly strangling me the whole time, he couldn't have done this."

There was a loud creaking sound, as if steel was buckling...

More silence...

Shikamaru took the flashlight from Lee and looked around for himself... "Uhh...Look."

The four of them each got up curiously, walking slowly toward the wall opposite of the door... 4 dolls lay, the one of Sasuke and Naruto, but now also ones of Lee and Shikamaru. The four of them looked at each other. "Go back to hell!" Naruto turned and tried to run again, but Sasuke grabbed him and pulled him back. "Stop doing that!"

"If anyone is playing a joke." Shikamaru warned "They should tell me right now." His voice was shaking, partially from the growing, though he hated to admit it, fear caused not only by the dolls but that constant buckling sound that seemed to come every time some thing creepy happened, and the cold breeze that just brushed against his face like a breath. His arm was starting to hurt, and he felt his Chakra stirring, which seemed to happen every time he got excited or afraid after he was exposed to those chemicals during the storm. And was even worse after he was injected with more substances after being captured. "Lee..."

Lee didn't move "Yes..."

Shikamaru clinched his right arm and grunted in pain, pain that was spreading through out his whole body and made his Chakra flare. Something really strange happened then. "Did the lights just come back on?"

"No." Sasuke said, still keeping his eyes on the dolls as if they were about to move.

"Then why can I see?"

"Shikamaru?"

"I can see everything." Shikamaru could see everything that was covered in darkness, which was everything. This was defiantly an sure sign that Shikamaru's body wasn't handling the chemicals in his new environment well, every time a stimulus such as fear or invoking chakra for instance... "I may just be dreaming or something but...turn around and tell me if you see something with red eyes."

Naruto, Lee and Sasuke gave each other a sideways look, then slowly...very slowly, they turned around.

Naruto

"AHaaaaaaa!" Naruto yelled.

Though they couldn't see much of it, there was a pair of glowing red eyes staring at them, and it called Naruto's name particularly. Lee lifted the flashlight toward it, allowing them to get a glimpse of a black mass of tentacles in a spiked ball like shape. In a blur it shot upward and disappeared into the ceiling, and all of the dolls with it.

"I was right doesn't seem to be big enough to cover this." Naruto elbowed Sasuke in the side, mad that he hadn't listened to him before.

"I think we have more pressing problems!" Shikamaru shifted his eyes around, following the creature through the darkness when no one else could "Like this thing."

Naruto

Something wrapped around Naruto's neck and pulled him upward forcefully, before he could get an inch off the ground, Lee drove his fist into the black tentacle hard enough to force it to let go. Naruto fell to the ground with a loud thump "Aww, that felt pretty real to me."

"Naruto, are you ok?" Sasuke ran towards the sound of his voice, though had the senses to stop before ran over Naruto.

"Yeah, I'm ok."

"We have to get out of here, we can't defend against this thing with this little space." Shikamaru said.

Naruto...I've been waiting for you

"Whaaaaaa!" Naruto flinched and fell to the ground from a hard impact to the back of his head "What is this thing?"

"Get out of here now!" Shikamaru shouted, "It's after you Naruto, go!" Being the only one who could see, Shikamaru pushed Naruto forward, prompting him to leave. "Sasuke, get him out of here." Shikamaru tossed the flashlight over to Sasuke.

I wont let you go, I've waited too long...

Naruto flinched and jumped back just as another tentacle reached out for him in the darkness, Shikamaru abruptly tossed a Kunai at it, which was knocked back at him. The whole demon itself came down on Naruto with a speed hard to keep track of, luckily Lee came from the side with a sharp kick into the sea of wavering appendages. The demon was knocked backwards into the wall hard enough to leave an imprint. "Get out of here! I'll hold it off." Shikamaru said.

"I'll be back!" Naruto called back, heading upstairs followed by Sasuke and Lee.

The demon tried to go after him, but Shikamaru jumped in front of the door "Shadow Bind No Jutsu!" He halted the strange creature in it's tracks, freezing it in mid-air about a foot in front of his face... "Your after Naruto...why?"

...You'll make a good appetizer

Shikamaru felt the demon pushing against his Jutsu, hard, he could barely hold it. "You, your after Naruto...and you look just like the one Neji described. Nightmare..." Shikamaru realized what he was fighting against, which made him push back. "Your not dead yet?"

Nightmare wasn't just being held by Shikamaru's jutsu, somehow Shikamaru was pushing down on him from all sides just by using the darkness, the more he pushed to hold it, the more the new found force did, he was controlling darkness and barely knew it. "Foolish Human, you don't know whom you speak too."

"I think I do." Shikamaru thrust his hands outward, causing a sudden impact to slam into Nightmare, hard enough to knock it into the back wall. It was like instinct, this pain in his arm was connecting him to the shadows resulting from the reaction, the reaction was also allowing him to control it. Maybe these reactions weren't so bad... "You got your ass handed to you by Naruto in the past, your still weak and it's been 2000 years after the fight. So now you want to go after the reincarnation, it won't be that easy."

Nightmare's body expanded outward, the hundreds of black tendrils grew longer and thicker, high in number until the point where the growth smash Shikamaru against and wall and pushed him through. "You dare challenge me boy?"

"Yes I do!" Shikamaru shouted in obvious pain, Nightmare was wrapping itself around his body, constricting him hard enough to snap something inwardly. The shadows swelled up, in turn wrapping around the tentacles and prying them off of him caused by a strong will and Shikamaru's strength, though his strength was only enough to loosen them. 'It's...happening again...this pain it's what's doing this.'

! - ! - !

"Get up!" Naruto shouted into Gai and Asuma's ears. Gai nearly fell out of his chair and Asuma shot up onto his feet.

"Naruto? What is it?" Asuma rubbed his head and yawned lightly, "It's 2 in the--" the ground below them jumped abruptly, followed by a cry of pain. "Was that...! Shikamaru!"

Gai recognized that voice also. "What's going on?"

"Turn's out the house really was haunted." Naruto drew a pair of handguns from the waistband of his pants, checking the clips. "A monster is in the basement, Shikamaru is holding it off right now."

"Your kidding me." Asuma rubbed his head, this had to be Naruto's imagination.

"Wish he was." Sasuke move hastily down the stairs, his riffle and bullet proof vest from when he join the S.W.A.T team. He tossed a flashlight over to Naruto, who caught it and nodded a small thanks.

Lee, unequipped though still holding the soil in his hand, followed behind him. "Naruto, move now."

Naruto looked up at him curiously, but took to steps unquestioningly to the side just in time before for a black tentacle tore through the floor and lashed out for him. It swept across the ground into his legs and knocked him off his feet, but Naruto easily flipped backwards and caught himself, then he opened fire, managing to strike the black mass with a bullet. It abruptly pulled back.

"How did you know that?" Naruto asked, looking down on the ground nervously.

"I'm a ninja, remember?" Lee placed his hand on the door leading to the basement and got ready to open "Sasuke, Ready?" He asked, Sasuke nodded, and with the que he abruptly opened the door only to have countless black Tentacles burst outward and throw Shikamaru at them. Lee managed to catch him with his free hand and jump away from the door,

"This can't be really happening," Asuma patted himself in the search for some type of weapon, he had none. But he did find a cell phone. "I'll tell Iruka to stop by my house...You find Kakashi, I don't think anyone else will believe a demon is attacking a house."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

The expanding tentacles finally pushed Shikamaru, Lee, Naruto, and Sasuke out of the front door. Shikamaru landed on his feet and slid back a few feet from relinquished momentum "Now that we're out of that small space, I can fight this thing."

"It's pitch black out here, I still can't see anything." Naruto grabbed on to a poll and pulled himself off the ground, he was right, he couldn't even see Nightmare.

Sasuke picked up his fallen riffle, sliding his flashlight into a holder over the barrel "Flashlight dobe, use it." The white light shined into the doorway on to a mass of slithering black, snake like tentacles spewing outward toward them persistently. 'What the hell is that thing, and why is it going after Naruto?' Five or so of the thick tentacles shot directly outward toward him, and he countered with a rain of bullets. First he aimed at the highest one, each bullet drawing out a small spray of blood as it tore through the skin, after about 5 or so it fell lifelessly to the ground from blood loss or damage he didn't care which. Sasuke turned his fire on to the one directly in front of him, but it was too close, he had to jump back.

Naruto dived to the side, one of the appendages just barely scraping across his cheek, he turned the two guns toward that particular attacker and pulled the trigger twice, it only took two shots to kill off one of them. Though his type of guns gave him a slight advantage because of that, it was traded off because of the sheer number of the tentacles coming for him. Hundreds of the large creatures all after him. He landed roughly on his side and immediately his legs were gabbed by four of the snake like parts "There's way too many of them!" Naruto aimed carefully down at that tentacles and attacked furiously, though careful not to shot himself. It seemed like every time he killed one, 2 more took it's place, he couldn't get away. In seconds his whole lower body was completely covered and he was being pulled in. "Whoaaaa--"

He received some much needed when Gai, with high powered riffle, hit Nightmare with six well placed shots in to the appendages that bound him, then grabbed Naruto by the collar and pulled him out of their grip.

"I'll try to hold it back." Shikamaru called out, holding his hands outward and with a strained look as if he was holding some invisible force. He was using the dark, which had gained some type of physical substance when it came under his control, to push against it though it was pushing back even harder. With an audible grunt Shikamaru drew his right fist back and thrust it forward at the air more as a testing measure, in turn an invisible impact struck Nightmare across it's front side hard enough to knock it back into the house. 'Damnit...' Though this type of power did have a cost, every time he used it the pain in his arm grew. An allergic reaction should not be invoked for use as a weapon!

Lee landed next to Shikamaru from some unknown previous place "Shikamaru, are you alright?"

"Fine, I assume you need one of these." Shikamaru reached into the holder on the waistband of his pants and drew one of the few Kunais there. He tossed it over to Lee. "It's weak in the center so aim their if you can." Though killing off it's appendages did do damage, they would have to kill off a substantial amount to weaken Nightmare.

"Aim, I'll never hit it from this distance." Lee took a step back, then his body shot forward in a blur of green. Carefully cuffing the seed surrounded by soil in his left hand placed behind his back, he ran into the sea of Nightmare's expanding body, hacking and slashing through the tentacles with the blade and blocking with his arm on occasion. It took all of his speed and senses to reach the center of Nightmare unscathed, he only had time to dive the metal into the defenseless inner part of it's body.

Damned fools, I'll devour all of you.

Lee was suddenly entangled in Nightmare, each second the pressure coming more unbearable. "!" He tore himself from it's grip and jumped upward, his body shifting and turning around the bases of thousands of tentacles and somehow managing to get free before it was too late.

"Asuma!" Iruka was moving so fast that he had to slide to a stop, Zabuza following behind. "What's going on? You told me to bring these but..." Iruka handed him his usual weapons, a pair of Mac 11 submachine guns. "What's happening."

"Don't you see it?" Asuma pointed forward to the front door of the Uchiha Mansion along with the windows.

Iruka heard something though he couldn't see it, it was pitch black, of course he couldn't see it "I can't see anything."

A flashlight swept over Nightmare, making the squirming tentacles visible for a split second. "See it now?"

"What the hell is that thing!" Zabuza took a step back in surprise.

"Don't know, but it's after Naruto." Asuma loaded a clip in to the weapon and joined into the attack.

"Great..." Iruka sighed and went after Asuma.

"The strangest things really do happen around these people." Zabuza reached on to his back and retrieved the sawed off shotgun he'd used before in the hospital, with his usual quickness he pulled some ammunition from the side pack attached to his waist and loaded it into the chamber. He caught another glimpse of the creature through another sweep of a flashlight. 'I need something bigger.' He opened the left side of his side pack and drew a metal box half filled with C4 among other chemicals, then he charged head first into the mass. Simply enough it was easy for him, a weapon like a shotgun hit more then one of the tentacles and was powerful enough to kill groups off in a single shot...

"You see it don't you?" Naruto backed away with heavy breaths, nearly falling over from the fatigue of fighting off countless black creatures that seemed to move on their own. Kakashi pulled down his mask from his other eye, staring at Nightmare for a moment.

"Yes." Kakashi nodded, at the moment wishing he had something more then a handgun though he didn't have time to go and get some of his more heavy artillery. Note: When someone says demon, go for the big guns first. Kakashi wrapped his arm around Naruto's shoulders and jumped upward, himself landing one of the unseen tentacles sweeping along the ground toward Naruto. He flipped backwards as the appendages lashed upward in attempt to grab a hold of him and fired a few shot from the air, managing to take out three or four of them. "Pay more attention."

Kakashi let go of Naruto, who was immediately joined by Sasuke, covered mostly in blood. "Are you alright?" Naruto asked.

"Don't worry about me, it you this thing is after." Sasuke told him, still firing.

You mortals thing you can stop me, your just wood for the fire.

"Watch it." Shikamaru warned "This demon takes over people's bodies and sends them to hell."

"Seriously?" Lee kicked away one of the tentacles and sliced through another, fighting more defensively. "Oh man..."

"You two, get down now." Zabuza abruptly grabbed Lee and Shikamaru by the head and pushed them down, an explosion followed, sending rush of flames shooting outward just a few inches above them. His bomb gave enough light to see everything in a 500 feet radius clearly, especially Nightmare, through the flames the group saw everyone of the thousands and thousands of black tentacles shrink and draw back to the original size of 3 feet. Along with a shockwave, Nightmare was thrown from the house in to the center of the road.

"Hey don't blow up my house!" Sasuke shouted angrily.

"I got the damn thing out didn't I?" Zabuza snorted indifferently.

...All of a sudden another light became visible... "Zabuza, is that another bomb?" Kakashi asked.

"No..." Zabuza shook his head...it was blinding at first, after Konoha being dark for the better part of three weeks subsequent to the storm no one knew what it was. That was, until the streetlights illuminated, mixed with the red of traffic lights. "That's the power coming back on."

Everyone could see Nightmare clearly now, still a black mass of tentacles only much smaller then before, it was quite large by scale through. "What are you waiting for, who cares what it is just shoot the damn thing." Zabuza shouted, reloading. For his comment Nightmare came after him first, driving into his chest while wiping him with the tentacles and knocking him backward through the wall of Sasuke's house.

You think you can kill me? If SDI couldn't what make you weaklings think you can? Death is waiting for you

"We'll see about that." Shikamaru jumped above Nightmare, fighting the urge to scream in pain as shadows from every source around them, then surrounded Nightmare, holding it in an oppressive black haze. He was crushing it, a little more pressure and something on Nightmare would burst open for sure. Just by looking they could tell it was a powerful technique.

"That is really creepy Shikamaru." Now that there was light, Naruto fearlessly advanced toward Nightmare, reloading as he did so. He had to strike now while Nightmare was incapacitated.

"Just attack!" Shikamaru fell downward, clinching his searing arm tightly. He forced himself to keep holding, if he could keep it still just a few seconds more...

Nightmare broke free and charged through the air into Naruto, the impact was forceful enough to send Naruto flying through the air, but he wasn't going to let Naruto get away that easily. Nightmare started to rotate, drawing in strong winds and sucking Naruto's body into the vacuum. Luckily Iruka and Asuma dived in and pulled him away before he could be devoured by the demon, Asuma lifted the submachine gun, sending a torrent of bullets into the vacuum. Nightmare was thrown of it's spin and forced painfully to the ground.

Nightmare immediately shot back up into the air, it's tentacles extending toward the falling Shikamaru who could no longer hold the demon about to devour him. "!" Lee came to his rescue in a distortment of green blur, kicking Nightmare out of his path and catching Shikamaru with is free hand. "I didn't think you'd make it in time." Shikamaru joked, still clinching his arm. "Using that reaction to fight this demon wasn't such a good idea, I didn't think it would hurt this much."

"You shouldn't fight anymore then." Lee carried Shikamaru aside a good distance away from the range of the fight. "But what every you where doing, it was working, look." Lee pointed to Nightmare, who had crashed into the Uchiha house next to Zabuza, apparently the all of the gunshot wounds and the strong pressure Shikamaru had applied slowed Nightmare down, a lot. It was weakening. It was even turning red from internal breathing caused by Shikamaru. "We can handle it from here."

Nightmare gave another rotation, smashing apart the debris that surrounded it. "You humans will burn in hell for this, YOU WILL DIE NOW!" From Nightmare's body an orb of a strange black substance even larger the demon itself blasted outward towards Naruto. It was going so fast that he didn't have time to attempt avoid it, it slammed into him and engulfed his body whole.

"Naruto!" Sasuke ran to the trapped Naruto, only to be forced to stop in his tracks when a smaller ball with protruding razors scrapped across his forehead. He looked toward the source, Nightmare was spinning around furiously, throwing off a rain of the small projectiles. Sasuke crouched down under another and started shooting down the balls in his own defense, there were too many of them...

"Damnit, we can't even get at it." Gai stumbled back next to Kakashi, who was having no trouble taking care of the projectiles while Gai was..."Wait... if the power is back on...Kakashi, cover me." Gai moved behind Kakashi, who questionlessly defended him from all attack and knowing he had a point to this, he better had. Gai placed the riffle on Kakashi's shoulder and aimed upward. "If I hit it just right..." Accuracy wasn't one of Gai's strong points, Kakashi was better suited to take this shot only Gai wouldn't have been able to defend him from attack as well...Gai closed one eye and fired a single round upward into the sky.

The bullet went right through a single power line above them severing one end of a cord and sending it swinging downward, with all of Gai's luck it wasn't hit by one of the projectiles and had a path right into Nightmare. Electricity tore into it's body, streaming over the waving black tendrils in blue streaks and sparks. It effectively halted Nightmare's attack.

All of a sudden, the black substance trapping Naruto was abruptly pulled toward Nightmare. Iruka moved into it's path and pushed it back with the help of Sasuke, though they could barely hold it. "If you want Naruto, you'll have to go through me!" Sasuke shouted.

"Hey, Sasuke, Iruka." Naruto's voice rang out muffled and strained from the other side... "I...gotta plain...move out of the way."

"Naruto? Are you sure?" Iruka inquired, it seemed stupid though that wasn't surprising since Naruto didn't always have the best plains.

"Yeah, I got it."

Iruka and Sasuke looked at each other, then nodded in silent agreement and finally let go. Sending the black substance and Naruto rocketing toward Nightmare... With a few gunshots Naruto burst out from the top of the orb, his body flipping in mid-air so that he was facing the demon, "Eat this monster !" Yelling loudly he emptied the rest of the duel handguns into an unsuspecting Nightmare. The Demon fell backwards to the ground, the black tentacles being coated with red from profuse bleeding. Naruto landed just in front of it, trying to finish it off only to realize that he had run out of ammunition. "Awww, not now!" Naruto shouted, backing away as Nightmare rose weakly into the air.

"Naruto!" Sasuke tossed his riffle over to Naruto who obviously couldn't get away fast enough, Naruto caught it and fired defensively. Nightmare moved around too fast for Naruto to hit...

"Be still damnit!" Naruto shouted, still edging away as best he could. Nightmare started spinning again, this time filly able to pull his body in to the vacuum while throwing out more of the projectiles as before. The rapidly moving tendrils forcefully slammed into Naruto, throwing his body through the air, before he could get too far, Nightmare reached out for him and wrapped the appendages around his arms, legs and neck to pull him back.

Your mine...

"Not yet he isn't." Asuma rammed through the outstretched tentacles with his whole right while firing the two automatic weapons in to the center of Nightmare's body, forcing the creature to let go of Naruto. "Zabuza, now!"

Zabuza came from behind, diving into the sea of red and black that was Nightmare and thrusting a blue stick about the size of a grenade into it, managing to shooting his way out just in time before the bomb exploded. Instead of the usual flames a thick cloud of white burst, covering Nightmare's body with an unknown, powdery substance.

Is that the best you humans can do?

"No." Asuma took the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked it on to Nightmare. "This is."

Nightmare's body erupted in flames and then an earth shaking explosion. It was localized and only traveled a few feet, but the shockwave was enough to knock everyone but an expecting Asuma and Zabuza off of their feet, as well as shatter every window in a 500 feet radius. In a flood, outpouring blood streamed out of the demon's body as it hit the ground, bleeding from every pore.

"What was that!" Gai , shaking his head to stop the ringing, sprang to his feet with a mild surprise.

"Is it dead?" Naruto lifted his head curiously, which made him aware of the blood coming from the back of his head "That thing hits really hard."

Sasuke walked over Naruto, helping him up. "You ok?"

Naruto nodded and held the back of his head "Yeah...why was that thing after me?"

"It wasn't after you." Shikamaru looked down at his arm, thankfully feeling the pain dulling away as it did before...It was a big strain to use that, he still wasn't sure how it happened but what he had lost in the use of his arm he gained in control of the shadows, the darkness was so easily used it was like an arm or a leg. The more he used it, the worse the pain got and the less he could use his right arm but the more easily he could manipulate the darkness. 'Hmm...' "Your the descendent of the Umizuki Naruto in my time...no not descendant, he died too young for that. Your the reincarnation of him."

"No way, I'm nothing like that guy." Naruto said discardingly.

"Your exactly like that guy." Lee agreed "Just like him, I thought you where him when I first got here."

"Infact, all of you a reincarnations." Shikamaru said. "...It gives me a bad feeling that history is repeating itself."

Gai looked up abruptly "Naruto! Move!"

Naruto looked back, to find himself coming face to face with Nightmare driving in to his face, he didn't even have time to flinch ...Nightmare was suddenly knocked back by a bullet driving into it's side, Iruka followed, ramming his shoulder into Nightmare and lifting the gun again, then firing feverously into the fallen demon. Nightmare hit the ground again.

Humans...this is not over.

Nightmare's body curled into itself and disappeared...

"...Iruka that was so cool!" Naruto ran over to Iruka and hugged him tightly. "You came out of nowhere and Bam!"

"Is anyone else worried that that thing is not dead?" Asuma asked, looking around nervously "It could still be here."

"It's gone." Shikamaru told him "If it stayed it would die for sure, it's too weak."


	20. Chapter 20:The possibility of evil part3

Chapter 20: The possibility of evil part 3

"Wow, this thing is so cool!" Lee took it upon himself to investigate and over look every inch of the device in front of him, it was so fascinating, so simply amazing that he couldn't contain himself. "It's like, looking out of a window!"

"Lee...maybe you should calm down." Iruka said nervously, he'd never seen someone get so excited over something so very common. But that was too be expected since he was from the past.

Lee, still holding the same soil in his outstretched hand as he had been doing for the past 2 weeks, stared with his mouth slightly open at a TV. It wasn't just any TV, it was really big, and it looked so real, so amazingly real. He at first thought someone was trapped inside. "Whoa!--" Lee abruptly jumped back as something on screen exploded, and the speakers relayed the sound. He ended up falling painfully on his back, though still able to hold the soil.

Asuma looked down at the boy and laughed, it was amusing, very amusing. "Don't get too excited, it's not real." Asuma said, glancing over at Iruka then at Shikamaru who was just shaking his head.

They were at Asuma's apartment, who was serving to keep Lee from getting lost while Gai was at work. Shikamaru wouldn't have been able to help him, he barely knew his own way around a place so big. "Are you alright Lee?" Shikamaru looked down at Lee, who hadn't moved at all since he'd fallen. He just laid there, staring seemingly off into space with a shocked expression across his face. "Lee?"

"I...I-It's happening!" He was nearly shouting.

"What's happening?" Iruka asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, All of this work finally paid off." Lee shot upward, staring down at his outstretched arm holding the soil. "It's happening, the seed is sprouting!"

"I don't see anything." Shikamaru looked down carefully at Lee's hand, watching for anything.

"No, no it is!" Lee nodded excitedly, excitement that made him subconsciously tightening his grip around the soil. "Ow..." For some reason, that squeeze made his whole arm hurt. "What was that?"

"Your arm has been in that same position for two weeks, you haven't move a finger." Shikamaru explained "Your just stiff."

"Yeah, you must be right." Lee shook his arm a little and slowly shifted his fingers inward, "Man, that really--" The pressure made something green pop up out of the pile, something green.. It was the seedling, of a tree! "--...I did it, I actually did it!"

"Wow he's right." Asuma lifted himself out of his chair and leaned over Lee's shoulder.

"But how?" Shikamaru asked "That was an acorn wasn't it? Trees don't grow that fast..."

"That must mean it worked." Lee could hardly contain himself after such an accomplishment, he sprang on to his feet and lifted the small plant in to the air...and fell to the ground in pain. "Ahhhhhaaaa..." He clinched his wrist tightly, the source of the most pain.

"Take it easy Lee, you need to stretch." Shikamaru warned, cuffing the plant in both and lifting it out of Lee's hand, or trying to anyway. "Huh? Lee, let go."

"I'm not holding on to it." Lee stretched out his fingers, laying them flat on the ground while Shikamaru attempted to pry it away. "Wow, how dose it get stuck?" Lee pushed Shikamaru's hands away and attempted to pull it out himself, and it really hurt, a lot. "AAhhha..." Lee gritted his teeth, clinched his eyes and forced himself to keep pulling..."!" Until finally he held the plant in his opposite hand, he noticed the inch long roots hanging out of the bottom of it with a considerable amount of blood covering them. Matching holes were visible in his bandages.

"What?" Shikamaru looked questioningly at the roots and at Lee's hand, "How is this possible? it looks like the roots grew into your hand, there is so many things wrong with this I don't know where to start."

"Man that feel's better." Lee clinched his hand into a fist then shook it lightly. "Well, what wrong with this again?"

"Those roots shouldn't be that larger for a tree that was just planted 2 weeks ago." Iruka said. "And it shouldn't be strong enough to burrow through skin like this among other things. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Lee placed the uprooted sapling back into his left palm.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to see if it worked--Ahhhaah..." Lee cringed as he felt that sharp pain shooting threw his arm again, he tried to pull the soil back off but somehow the roots had forced themselves back in to place under his hand... "That doesn't usually happen dose it?"

"No..." Shikamaru sounded a little bit worried now.

"Well, let's see..." Lee gently press his finger against the small sapling's leaf, then he lifted two fingers from his free hand and closed his eyes in concentration. He tensed his muscles... "Please, don't let this be for nothing..." He whispered to himself...He started to feel something strange, "I feel weird, maybe it worked."

"L-Lee?" Shikamaru place a hand on Lee's his shoulder, then another one on his back, then he started feeling around his body with a shocked expression.

"Shikamaru?" Lee looked back at the boy who had his arms around his waist and his head pressed against his back. "Uh...what is it?"

"Chakra..."

"What!"

"You have...Chakra. I can feel it, you have Chakra."

"..." Lee knew his mouth was hanging open, and his eyes were wide, but he didn't care, he couldn't believe what he was hearing! Lee closed his eyes and lifted his fingers again, tensing his muscles enough to forced more Chakra out in a normal person. The plant in his hand started to shake lightly. "It's the plant, I don't have Chakra, it dose."

Iruka and Asuma looked at each other, they didn't exactly know what was going on but it seemed important.

'He's drawing Chakra from the plant?' Shikamaru looked in amazement, 'How is it possible?...It must be the roots that got in to his hand, but roots suck out...those roots must be gaining nutrients from his blood, no wonder they were so large.' It was a trade off, it absorbed some of his blood and allowed him use of it's Chakra, plants had lots of Chakra, though it was still a small plant so it didn't have much. "Lee..."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Lee?" Shikamaru opened his eyes and rolled over, the last time he was awake Lee was also, and he still was. "Are you still it awake? It must be 3 in the morning."

Lee sat on the edge of the bed, in the dark with a small flashlight in hand pointed on the small plant in his left hand.

"Did you get any sleep?"

"Not really, but look." Lee turned off the flash light, making the room pitch black again. But not for long, a sparkling green light started to glow with in the small sapling, then spread outward into a shining aura that rotated around it like a tornado. Lee's other hand could be seen moving out of the darkness and lifting over the plant by it's light.

"Lee..." Shikamaru tilted his head just enough to get a clear view.

"That's not all..." Lee said, his fingers lowering enough to lightly touch the two leaves on the sapling...The light brightened, growing stronger and stronger as the plant started to grow. More and more, taller and taller, wider...until it was a foot tall with 2 small branches, 6 leaves and a light bark growing around the trunk. He'd just made living thing grow. "I learned something, isn't it great?"

"Lee...you..." Shikamaru crawled over to him. "But how?"

"I feel, connected with it." Lee turned on the lights, hoping not to wake up Gai in the next room. "It's like you, when you said you felt connected to the Shadows."

"How do you feel?"

"Kinda drained, but it's not nearly as bad as before." Lee pushed himself off the bed with his free hand and held out the larger now a little heavier tree. "Oh yeah, I remembered when I was younger there was only one Jutsu that I kept practicing, I still know it." 'I hope this works...' Lee lifted two finger, holding them horizontally and pressing them against the tree. His body went up in a cloud of smoke, clearing to reveal a mirror image of Shikamaru.

"You can...use Jutsu!" Shikamaru couldn't help but become a little excited for him, he was proud of him! Lee had just done something no human had ever successfully did. Shikamaru climbed out of bed and ran over and hugged Lee tightly "That's amazing!"

"Shikamaru." Lee smiled. "I never saw you so happy."

"I know, I'm just so proud of you."

! - !- !

"Urrrhhhh..." Kakashi opened his eyes, awakened by a small chill and the dull light of daybreak. '?' With a yawn he shook his head and sat up, feeling another chill coming from behind him. He looked back and saw the window above his bed was open, and he was the only one here. 'Great, he disappeared again, but why did he open the window?' Kakashi knew Zabuza wouldn't go out of a window when he could have easily walked out of the front door.

_Ringggggggg_

Kakashi glanced over the side of his bed at the familiar sound radiating from his discarded pants, his cell phone was ringing. "?" Who could have possibly been calling at...Kakashi glanced over to an alarm clock on a nightstand nearby, 7:45 in the morning. With a dull sigh he lifted the phone to his ear. "Huh?"

"Kakashi, wake up."

That woke him up. "Zabuza? Where are you?"

"The docks, I had to go see about a situation...with the Sound."

And that got him out of bed. "What?"

"Something's going on." Zabuza told him "I just found an undercover sound solider walking around, I...interrogated him, and I found out Kabuto is here."

"What, again?" Kakashi couldn't believe that he just kept coming back, how did he keep managing to get in, and what was he doing? "Then he'll probably have more opposition forces then last time."

"I've already at least double, get down here now."

"Yeah, ok."

"And be careful, they're on the look out for both of us particularly, so try to be inconspicuous until you get to Dock 21."

"21, got it...is Kabuto there?"

"No, he's somewhere else, you should be worried about that." Zabuza paused for a minute "And oh yeah, it's snowing."

Kakashi looked towards the window...Zabuza was right, it was snowing, and rather hard. And the sunlight had been so dull because of all of the gray clouds covering every inch of the sky. "Thanks."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Ok, I'm here." Asuma ran into the living room of the Uchiha household, panting as if he'd just run all the way here from home. The house was still in bad shape from Nightmare, most of the same damages remained but it was obvious repairs were in progress. The large gaping hole in the side of the house had at lest been covered temporarily. "What's the emergency?"

Kakashi looked around at the group, Iruka, Gai, and Asuma were finally here. Naruto and Sasuke were already here, and Shikamaru and Lee came with Gai. He himself was already equipped with his bomb suit and his two regular handguns, a bomb detector and PS01 sniper riffle equipped with a silencer strapped on his back. This really was serious. "I'll be really brief, the Sound are here again. Zabuza found out that there is a relatively large force down at the docks concealed in plan clothes, and Kabuto is also some where in Konoha, the problem is that he's _not _at the docks. So that means there has to be more groups in different places, we can't handle a job this big by ourselves. All of you know what you have to do."

"It never stops." Gai sighed, "I was heading to the base anyway, I'll see if I can track the other Sound groups down."

"I'll head to the police stations and get some units down to the docks." Asuma said "I'm sure they'll believe me this time after that whole thing at the hospital."

"Do you need any help down there Kakashi?" Iruka asked.

"I'll have to go by myself for the time being, I'll need to find out what they're up to before backup gets there. Anymore people would only slow me down." Kakashi declined.

"Then it looks like I'm off to tracking detail." Iruka said. "I'll go to the NDAFA, I'm sure that I can radio in some support."

"Ok, what do we do?" Naruto asked anxiously.

"Nothing." Kakashi said it firmly just to make sure Naruto heard him clearly "You and Shikamaru are already targeted by the Sound, it's too dangerous. Stay. Here. All of you."

"What? You can't be serious." Lee apparently wasn't happy about the arrangements "You expect us to just sit here, not after what happened last time."

"He's right." Gai was in agreement, there was no way he could let either of them back into harm's way. "This is way too dangerous, Stay."

"Well this sucks." Naruto rolled his eyes and sat down in a chair. "You _really_ expected us to stay here?"

"Naruto, they're right." Sasuke knew they were after Naruto, especially with the weather outside, chances were that if put in that situation they would capture him. "You can't go into a fight like this, it's stupid."

Naruto scowled and closed his eyes, on the other hand Lee had took the denial a lot better and figured it was all for the best.

"We better go now." Kakashi said, gaining a nod from the three of them before departing. He paused and retrieved his Cell phone to call Zabuza, which was his attempt, but unfortunately it didn't work. "Wait a minute, we have a problem."

Asuma, Iruka, and Gai paused. "What?" Asuma asked.

"You have your radio with you Iruka, check for a signal."

With flashbacks roaring in his head, Iruka retrieved the radio on his waist. There was nothing, no static, no deadpan tone that came when a signal couldn't be a achieved, not even an emergency broadcasting signal. "Your right, it's being jammed."

"You don't think Kabuto would try taking over the NDAFA again?" Asuma inquired. "No, it would be too obvious."

Iruka sighed. "I'll go down there anyway and see if I can find the source."

! - ! - !

"It's freezing out here!" Konohamaru looked down at his coat just to make sure it was closed, then tightened his scarf. He felt like he was in the middle of a blizzard, he was in the middle of a blizzard! The snow was falling so hard that he could only see a few feet in front of his face, this same weather was working in his favor since that meant those who were coming after him couldn't see him either. Konohamaru knew his way around this city when they didn't.

'I need to find a way to warn Grandpa, a phone, radio, something!' Konohamaru stopped at the edge of the street, he knew where he was, and he knew there was only one place he could go at the moment, he could at least use the phone there.

! - ! - !

"Hey!" Konohamaru burst through the front door of Sasuke's house, slamming it shut behind him so swiftly that it nearly hit Asuma. "I didn't think I'd make it!"

Iruka looked down at the frantic expression on Konohamaru's face, it looked like he ran all the way here and had been outside for a long while from the thick white layer covering his body, especially his hair. "What wrong?"

"There were these guys, they're from the Sound Country, ." Konohamaru knew that much by looking at the bullet proof vest they had been wearing baring the Sound emblem. "They're after me, I think I lost them though."

"What!"

Konohamaru shook his head. "That's not even the worst part, They're going after my Grandfather too, I gotta warn him!" Konohamaru brushed past Asuma and ran for the phone... "What's wrong with your phone?"

Sasuke immediately narrowed his eyes. "Nothing..." With a thought forming in his head he took the phone from Konohamaru and placed it to his ear. "The phone's dead."

Naruto's first instinct was to check the phone lines, which drove him into the living room where a window sat. Though obstructed by snowfall, he could still see what he was looking for. "But the phone lines are still connected outside."

That's when something in Iruka's head finally clicked. "Why didn't I figure this out before! It's not the NDAFA, that's what Kabuto wants us to thing. The only other place that can block cell phone signals, radio transmissions, and the phone lines is the telephone company!"

"We need to go now." Asuma headed for the door again. "You wanted something to do Naruto, all of you, watch Konohamaru, it's too dangerous for him to go back outside."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Kakashi pressed his back against the wall of a small boat house on peer 1, rifle in hand. The cold winds were blowing a torrential amount of snow directly into his face, this weather hindered him as much as it helped him. With his mind on the cold, Kakashi turned around towards the wall and jumped upward, grabbing on to the outer rim of the roof and pulled himself up on top of the small boat house. He crawled along the frosted surface of the slanted roof up to the very top, then set the riffle in front of him and looked through the scope.

It was a good thing the snow was blowing the way it was, if it wasn't then he wouldn't be able to see. 'Alright, let's see what's going on...' Kakashi first noticed that there were a lot of people out in the middle of a storm this bad, they were anchoring ships, unloading packages, things of that nature. Then he shifted his view upward and zoomed a long ways down to dock 21 where Zabuza was supposed to be meeting him. 'Damn...' Kakashi could see a very large tanker in port, most of the activity was there, though mainly loading and unloading of very suspicious cargo.

There was no way Zabuza would be there anymore, he'd be caught. And now that phones and radios were out, he had no way of finding him... 'Zabuza had to leave some way for me to track him, but what could he possibly...' With an idea forming, Kakashi retreated his bomb detector from his waist and turned it on...he was picking up something about 100 feet away from him, 2 docks down. Just as Kakashi was focusing his scope on pier 3, what ever he was picking up exploded, taking out what looked to be a fishing boat. A clear hello from Zabuza. 'Fine, we'll do it your way."

Kakashi focused in on a person running toward the dock and fired a silent shot, striking the man in the head. His aim quickly shifted to someone next to him and he pulled the trigger, taking him out as well. It wasn't long after Kakashi had taken down 5 people that they seemed to notice what was happening, that's when a lot of guns appeared and just about anyone civilian already disappeared. '?' That's when Zabuza surfaced from the left, all attention being drawn directly to him. 'What are you doing, running into the open like that?'

Zabuza, equipped with a Mark 3-AP single barrel shotgun, fought his way toward pier 21, firing on just about anything that move. 'Watch it Zabuza.' Kakashi gave him as much assistance as he could, shooting anyone around Zabuza that he missed or just got too close. He was amazed that Zabuza still didn't mange to get hit, the man apparently exactly knew what he was doing. He watched as Zabuza came from behind and wrapped his arm around one man's neck, pulling his back against his chest and using him as a shield, he did that often. He had time to give a quick look back in Kakashi's direction since he was the only one who could tell where the sniper was firing from.

! - ! - !

"This weather is horrible..." Gai squinted past the windshield at the blizzard outside his house, roads were thinning traffic wise due to the weather and ice was starting to form. Infact the storm had hit so fast and so hard, a good portion of the roads were frozen over with ice already. "I can barely see where I'm going." It was a good thing for him that he knew his way by heart, in fact he'd just reached the on ramp for Highway I-41, where all his problems began.

He didn't know he'd been targeted, studied and setup, it didn't even occur to him. The first thing he'd noticed was that he started sliding to the side from the ice caused by 12 strait hours of heavy snow. "..." Gai reached down to a smaller stick shift that lay next to his regular gearshift and changed his car into 4 wheel drive before proceeding any farther. That's when the second thing caught his attention, that there were no cars whatsoever on the road. "Hmm, that's strange, I wonder--!"

Half way into his sentence the third thing made itself know, a single gunshot and a bullet striking and deflected by his roof. He didn't even have to look for the aslant since a white car pulled up next to him, there was a man with blue hair that descended down to his shoulders, blue eyes and something somewhat large on his back. Gai, being the solider that he was, knew who this man was, Sakon. A general well known among Sound troops, and what they knew well, he knew well.

"Maito Gai, we finally meet, too bad we wont have time to talk."

"You!" Gai shouted "What are you doing here!"

"One specific task." Sakon said. "Orochimaru wants you dead. I personally don't think your worth my time but you should feel honored we're putting this much effort into you." Sakon gave him a small wave before accelerating ahead of him, and was quickly replaced by another car holding a driver and a man holding a gun out of the window.

"!" Gai abruptly veered to the left and retrieved his riffle from the passenger seat as bullet's flew into the side of his car. The forth, and what should have been first, thing finally made itself known. 'A set up!' Gai crouched his head down and quickly slammed into the blue import firing at him, knocking it to the side and pin it against the side rail. A loud scraping sound and a flurry of sparks streamed from his attacker's vehicle as they tried and failed to push themselves off of the railing. Gai shifted the gun to his right hand and fired randomly into the one beside him, the vehicle quickly decelerated and went out of control meaning the driver was either dead or wounded.

By the time Gai pulled himself away from the guard rail he was being surrounded by two larger SUVs trying to pin him in. 'I don't have time for this, I just have to catch up with Sakon.' Gai shifted gears and pushed his own former racer forward, though he took a speed decrease being in 4-wheel drive he was able to blow right past them.

! - ! - !

'I was right.' Iruka looked up at a large metal gate that now stood in place of the barbed wire chain link fence, infact the whole place was barricaded. Iruka wished he'd had time to get a coat, that among other things he needed. Kakashi had insisted that he take a weapon just in case he encountered an enemy, that being something a little stronger then the handgun he already had. So Kakashi insisted he barrow one of his own .50s, something much stronger then Iruka originally had. 'Well, there's only one way in.'

Iruka crouched slightly and jumped up into the air, grabbing on to the top of the steel gate and pulled himself up. Looking ahead he could see the compound of Konoha Bell central, the main of three branches and the largest, he could see what looked like hundreds and hundreds of phone cords being spread outward in all directions from the compounds. There was one large 3 story building with another 2 story wing on each side including the back, this was it. And it looked like the outside of it was empty, completely empty. Not a worker or anyone.

'Yeah, this place is too quite, I definitely was right.' Iruka jumped down to the opposite side, no turning back now. With the snow blowing at his back, Iruka ran crouched low toward the front door, as stupid as he felt knowing that there were camera's everywhere, he had no choice. Not like they wouldn't notice if one o their cameras went off line, but on the other hand they might not even see him because of all of this snow... With the 9mm and .50 drawn, he kicked in the glass window that made up one of the 4 doors and ran through, letting out a deep breath from the warmth. 'Alright Kabuto, I'm ready for you this time.'

Iruka ran along the marble floors of the front hall and up the stairs they lead too, after that the path split three ways. He mused slightly on how people were prone to picking right, so he picked strait, slowly opening the door that lay there. He found a white room filled with desks, phones and computers, probably where all the operators worked from the looks of it. Unfortunately all the operators were laying dead on the ground at the hands of two men in blue Sound uniforms and black M4s. 'I hope I can do what Asuma showed me right.' With himself crouching so low he was almost crawling, Iruka ran quietly through the rows of desks.

As much as he absolutely hated doing this, he crept up behind the first man, reached up just enough to press the gun to his head and pull the trigger. The loud noise alerted the second man a row away and he turned towards Iruka who caught the first solider as he was falling a used him as a shield from the hail of gun fire that came his way. Then he abruptly pushed the dead man over the desk and into the second solider, giving him enough of a distraction to stand up and fire two round into a more inhabiting spot on the second solder's body. The shoulder and the leg, which at least didn't leave him dead. 'Sorry guy.'

Iruka looked around the room for another exit, he was sure others had heard that exchange. That was dangerous even if Kabuto never had a large team. There was another door laying in the left corner of the back wall, 'There!'

! - ! - !

Asuma pushed open the door to the Konoha police department, running up to the receptionist's desk by the side wall, "I need to find Chief Irons, is he here?"

The woman looked up at him questioningly, "Hold on a moment, I'll cheek." She pressed the intercom button on her desk. "Mr. Irons, Sarutobi Asuma is here to see you. It's _very_ important." She said, nodding to Asuma "You can go up."

Asuma ran toward the stairs, only realizing when he was halfway up the second flight that he'd never told that receptionist his name, or that nature of his problem. He'd never seen that woman in his life, in fact she wasn't even the usual receptionist. "...No, I don't know this for sure." Just in case something was off, Asuma reached behind him and drew the Mac 11s holstered in the waistband of his pants. Then he proceeded up the stairwell to the only door on the fourth floor.

"..." Asuma slowly pushed open the door with his foot, guns outward as it swung into the opposite wall. His eyes scanned the room, finding nothing out of order. He even found Chief Irons sitting in his chair, looking out the window, probably surveying the snow storm. "Chief Irons!"

The black chair turned around to reveal a person that wasn't Chief Irons, it was a smaller woman instead, she had red hair that stopped at her chin, pressed down by a black hat. She lifted her feet on to the desk and crossed her legs, brown eyes looking over Asuma while a M4A1 with a flamethrower attachment hooked under the barrel. And she of course was dressed in Sound uniform. "Took you long enough Asuma."

Asuma kept the guns aimed steadily at the redheaded woman, "Who are you?"

"Tayuya, but I suppose it doesn't matter since your about do die any way." Tayuya pulled the gun from her shoulder, causing a red sight to shoot out at his head right before she opened fire. Asuma, still in the door way, had no choice but to dive backwards to avoid being hit, though he did manage to return fire before his body fell from Takyua's sight. "?" She looked over at the smoking hole in the chair next to her head, 'That was too close, I better take care of this guy quickly.' With that thought, she jumped out of the chair and over the desk, going after Asuma.

Asuma suddenly sprang into view when he jumped up from the stairs and drove his shoulder into Tayuya's chin hard enough to throw her into the desk. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not sure about everyone else." Tayuya drove the barrel up into Asuma's head, making him stumble a little. "But I'm here to kill you." She pulled the trigger, and by his own speed Asuma was able to move to the side enough to be struck in the shoulder, he crouched down at a speed higher then usual since he almost fell.

"Are you saying your doing all of this just to kill me!" Asuma swept his foot across the ground and into Tayuya's legs hard enough to knock her off of her feet.

"Don't get too excited sparks." From the ground Tayuya kicked Asuma in the face and then drove the end of her riffle down on to his head. "Not just you, your other friends too." Tayuya flipped on to her feet and kicked Asuma in the stomach, knocking him back a few steps. After words he was sure he was bleeding some place.

Asuma grabbed her leg before she could pull it away, then threw her into the wall a few feet away. "What? You did all of this just to kill us!" Asuma turned the guns on to Tayuya, hoping to finish this off now, but unfortunately Tayuya was faster then that. She pushed herself into the air, kicking one of the weapons out of his hand.

"Heh, we're going after someone more important, I just have to get you out of the way." Tayuya landed gracefully on her feet sent a strong punch into Asuma's mouth, but Asuma was quick enough to catch her fist. He pulled her arm over his shoulder, crouching down enough to continue pulling her body up on to his shoulder, then he threw her forcefully into to the wall again, this time sending cracks shooting out from the point of impact.

"You must be the one that took out our radio systems." Asuma knew you could do something like that from here, especially since dispatch was down in the basement. But this was a police station... "How did you get past the police?"

"Past?" Tayuya laughed, placing her hands on the wall behind her. "Are you stupid, they're all dead. Of course we couldn't leave a district of Konoha unprotected, so we replaced them all." Tayuya leapt upward into the air, firing down on Asuma with a rain of bullets. Asuma dived out of the way, though unfortunately his path was blocked by Irons's desk and he ended up hitting his head and falling to the ground. A red beam streamed on his torso, followed by Tayuya who landed on his chest.

From the corner of his eye Asuma just barely spotted something to his side right before Tayuya landed on him, so he raised the one remaining Mac 11 and fired at Tayuya while he reached for the second one nearby. Tayuya fell back, a burning impact coming from her body armor. Most soldiers had that body armor that protected against bullets, thought it stopped them from penetrating anything, the strong impact still hurt and with each shot the armor became weaker and weaker... 'This place is full of Sound spies, I'm surrounded...Damnit!'

Asuma kicked aside her weapon, picked up Tayuya by the collar of her shirt, slamming her back against the wall and pressing one of the guns under her chin. "Call them off now!"

She smirked, "What makes you think it will be that easy?"

"Because if you don't I'll kill you."

"A weak bastard like you kill me?" Tayuya drover her forehead into his, pushing away the weapon "Get. Off!" then sending a kick into his stomach with all of her strength. Asuma slid backwards, his legs hitting the side of the desk and, to his dismay, he flipped over it and landed hard on the other side. Tayuya laughed again, kneeling down to retrieve her fallen weapon. "You know what, I think I will call them off." She reached up to her ear and tapped an earpiece hidden beneath the black hat. "I have Sarutobi Asuma, now you guys get your asses in gear and get out there."

Asuma sat up with a small groan, he had to admit, that hurt. 'She's sending them out to Konoha. I have to stop her!'

"Let's get down to business." Tayuya pulled the slide on her M4, then held down a button just bellow the barrel, sending out a wave of flames that swept over the desk and forced Asuma back down. The flames reached the window, effectively shattering the glass and throwing a furry of snow at Asuma, and he was forced to jump back as the fire quickly incinerated the wood furnishing.

"!"

! - !- !

Konohamaru growled in frustration, pacing aggregately around the room. "I can't just sit here!" He shouted.

"Calm down Konohamaru." Sasuke said in an attempt to stem his impatient movement. "Just wait."

"How can I wait? Those guys are after my Grandfather again!" Konohamaru yelled.

"I know your worried about your Grandfather but Sasuke's right." Naruto sat down on the couch, leaning forward just enough to hover over the table with a gun in hand. 9mm bullets were scattered across the table, and he was loading them one by one into a clip. "If those guys are after you, then they'll be waiting for you go back home. He's a smart guy, I'm sure he's alright."

Konohamaru sighed. "I guess your right." With no choice but to calm down, Konohamaru looked around the room for something to focus his attention on besides the obvious. Nothing really seemed good enough to hold his interest, he wanted to do nothing but at least warn his Grandfather, at lest do that much... So he just sat down on the ground, holding his head in his hands.

"..." Shikamaru unfolded his arms and opened his eyes.

Lee, leaning against the wall behind him, took notice. "Shikamaru?"...he started to get uneasy.

Shikamaru stood up from the chair "Someone's outside." Those words gained everyone's attention.

'!' Sasuke's eyes averted to the living room door sharply, he was right. "Konohamaru! Get over here now!"

Konohamaru looked up, he didn't even have time to inquire why before the door behind him was thrown off it's hinges and landed directly on top of him. A rather large man with oddly styled orange hair walked in, placing his foot lightly on the door to prevent Konohamaru from escaping. Naruto jumped at him, but the man easily grabbed him by his neck and threw him aside, directly into the large TV. "How the hell do you lose a runt like this?" The man growled, waving two very conspicuously dressed KPD officers into the room.

A few of the fake ones replaced by Sound soldiers.

The large man climbed off of the door, releasing an unconscious Konohamaru into the hands of the two men. "Leave him alone." Shikamaru came from the side, throwing a strong kick to the orange haired man to the side of his head. The man sidestepped a few steps as Shikamaru landed and crouched down, sweeping his leg across the ground and into the man's. The man moved back just enough to avoid it and then sent a strong kick to Shikamaru's chest, throwing him through the side of the stairs rather loudly.

By then the men had disappeared into the storm, taking Konohamaru with them.

"Give him back." Sasuke growled. The man looked at him and seemed surprised...

"Uchiha Sasuke, So you did survive."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, this man probably still thought he was working with Orochimaru "I know you, your one of Orochimaru's Generals, Jiroubou?"

Jiroubou nodded "I see you did most of the work for me already, it would have taken hours to track both sources down." Jiroubou retrieved a small remote like device from his back pocket, the same one Kabuto had used to find Naruto and Shikamaru. He tossed it to Sasuke. "How about you and me get this over with."

"What are you doing with Konohamaru, where are they taking him."

Jiroubou smiled "To the white house, Orochimaru wants him alive for whatever reason. I can't say the same for the president though."

'...There gonna...assassinate the President!' Naruto pushed himself out of the inside of the dead TV, shaking the glass and metal parts from his hair. "You bastards...If you want us." Naruto indicated himself and Shikamaru. "No...if you want Konohamaru, your gonna have to go through me first."

"Obnoxious little brat aren't you." Jiroubou pulled a large Glatting gun, a weapon for an aircraft, off of his back. Things just started to look a lot bleaker. "Too bad I can't kill you, but that doesn't mean I can't hurt you."

Sasuke drove his standard issue riffle into Jiroubou's stomach, forcing him to keel forward just enough to for Sasuke to give him a sharp punch to the face. "You want to hurt him, you have to go through _me_."

"Figured as much." Jiroubou grabbed Sasuke's arm and swung him painfully into Shikamaru, who had been emerging from the wreckage. Naruto tried to sneak up while Jiroubou was doing that, he was stopped by the large Glatting gun being pressed against his head. "Give up now and I'll take it easy on you."

"Take it easy on me? How about you stop and I wont kick your ass." Naruto growled.

"Have it your way then."

! - !- !


	21. Chapter 21:The possibility of evil part4

Chapter 21: The possibility of evil part 4

!- ! - !

Another extra long chapter to make up for my previous delays, enjoy, since it will take you awhile.

And please, I know this little arc will be long but it will be over by chapter 23, so bare with me.

! - ! - !

"Very subtitle Zabuza." Kakashi emerged from the water with a light gasp, not from the lack of air but from the absolute cold. "There was no way we could have taken on that many people but you and your explosions."

"What's wrong, had hard time Kakashi?" Zabuza surfaced next to Kakashi, his wet hair hanging down around his face in strands that appeared to be a lot straighter then they actually were. He wasn't in his usual clothing but instead a black thermal suit that was highly insulated, though it appeared to be nothing but a pair of pants, a jacket (made of some material that was defiantly not cloth based, it almost looked like plastic) and boots. Despite how thin it seemed, it was water proofed and insulated for extremely cold weather, he was prepared for this. "Besides, we need to find out what they're doing on this boat, there's no point of hiding outside." Zabuza glanced back at the hull of the large ship, it appeared to be an oil tanker though it most likely didn't contain oil. "What are they stealing and why do they need so much of it?"

Kakashi looked up at the boat that seemed to tower above him, it was impossibly large, it was at least 50 up to the deck from the water's surface and from what he could see from his angle the tanker was 200 or more feet long. "We can't go in through the deck, it's too obvious...one of these port windows will have to--...Zabuza?" Kakashi looked around when he realized he was talking to himself, Zabuza had run off and he didn't even notice it! Kakashi had no choice but to wait until Zabuza rose from beneath the cold waters again. "What did you just do?"

"There are 3 bombs underneath the hull, just in case." Zabuza told him, and being the experienced bomber he was, he knew what places would be most effective in order to sink a ship even as solidly built as this one. "Keep that in mind." He tossed Kakashi a small cylinder about the size of a battery with a small red button on one side a blue one on the other. "Just in case." Zabuza lifted his hand from the water and tugged on an invisible wire that could just barely be seen with a flicker only if the light struck it right. He tugged it a little harder, pulling down a long rope from the deck. Zabuza pulled himself up by his arms, climbing toward one of the circular windows above. Kakashi silently followed, trying to be as quiet as possible so they didn't draw attention to themselves .

They moved surprisingly fast up the ropes to only be using their arms, both of them had had experinces doing this type of thing in the past and for Kakashi the promise of warmth is what pushed him to move onward. He was so focused on how cold he was that nearly fell from halfway up when a loud horn was sounded from the tanker, thick black smoke began pouring from the three large stacks that towered above deck and into the flurry of snow pouring down on them. With another bullhorn echoing out in waves over the docks and a light shake, the ship began to move. They hadn't known that the men from the Sound had finished the work of loading cargo since they hid under water in a attempt not to be spotted. But apparently they had and were leaving port. "Looks like...there's no turning back now." Kakashi grunted just low enough for it to be only heard by himself, mechanically pulling his body up the rope without much focus on anything around except the could him, that was until he nearly ran into Zabuza.

Zabuza peeked cautiously into the window they'd reached...it was an empty room, a residential area with a bed, a desk, a nightstand and nothing more. Deeming it safe, Zabuza upholstered the Mark 3 shotgun hanging off his back and smashed the glass open with the edge of the handle. It was easy for him to slide inside then reach back for Kakashi as soon as he regained himself. "There must be a map around here somewhere." Zabuza said, grabbing on to Kakashi's arm and pulling him into the ship. "It might take too long to wander around."

"Hn." Kakashi, now inside the warmth of the ship, started to shake as much as the water out of his hair as possible, it was the only part of his body that could be readily. He was right in the middle of it when his phone rung. 'Who could possibly be calling now? It must be an emergency, maybe Gai or Iruka...wait, the airwaves are jammed, how is a call getting through .' Kakashi lifted his cell phone to his ear slowly. "What?"

"Kakashi." That was an unfamiliar voice... "I see you. In fact, I see both of you." The mysterious man on the other end laughed in a playful voice, right before there was a small click though not from a hang up. Kakashi immediately flinched and jumped to the side as a bullet rained down on him from a vent above his head, "You figured it out just in time. Not bad Kakashi."

"Who are you?" Kakashi leaned to the side lightly and looked up, peering past the ventilation cage and filter...there was a faint light, a very faint light, this same shaft must have connected to a room on the floor above them. "How did you get this number? How did you even get this call through?"

"I know a lot about you, and Zabuza. Why wouldn't I, it was my job." The man said "You know, you two being here give me an idea. How about we play a little game... You two have 3 minutes to find your way to the main cargo room before I let every solider here know your position. "

"Who the hell are you!" Kakashi shouted. "I'm not playing around damnit!"

"Well I guess I can at lest give you my name. Kidomaru." Kidomaru told him. "At lest let me get to meet you. It'll be a really boring trip if you guys die too quickly." He said playfully before he hung up.

"Zabuza."

"I heard, he's above us... loud little bastard." Zabuza pressed his back against the wall to the left side of the door of the small room, listening closely to confirm what he already knew was there. He heard a voice, a man commenting that he heard a sound in this direction, but despite that it was clear that Kidomaru hadn't told the crew yet. "Ready?"

Kakashi leaned back on to the wall on the opposite side of Zabuza, "Do I have a choice." With the sniper riffle clinched tightly in his hands, Kakashi gave a light nod to Zabuza and both of pivoted off the wall towards the door, kicking it open and firing the second they gained a clear view. Two very surprised men in plan clothes were knocked off their feet hard on to the metal floors. They found themselves staring down a long, cramped corridor fitting to this type of boat.

"Where would the Cargo room be?" Kakashi wouldn't have trusted his own sense of direction on a Tanker, and knowing Zabuza to be the water person he was, Zabuza would have a better idea then he himself would."

"Someplace below us, in the center of the ship." Zabuza told him.

"Let's go."

! - ! - !

'Owwwww...ohhh.' Konohamaru awoken to a throbbing headache, one that was only rivaled by the constant reminder of what was happening again. Before even attempting to move he had the prescience of mind to try remember why he had just been unconscious first...Sasuke had yelled for him to get out of the way and then he felt a hard pain crushing him down... now that he got that straitened out, it was on to his next priority, to figure out why did he feel like he was moving. '...No, No no no!' Normally he would have panicked, but with everything he had ever learned from Itachi and Kisame, he knew that was a really bad move.

So instead he peeked one eye open, staring down at the ground through the haze of white snow carried by wind into someone's back, he was being carried over someone's shoulder. And from what he could tell from the clothing and the person next to who ever was carrying him, they were police officers. Police! He was saved...wait... if they were police then why wasn't he at a police station, or a hospital, or at least a cop car? Instead he was outside in the middle of a blizzard, freezing, so cold that he couldn't feel his arms or his legs, or anything they were connected to. How could he go from where he was before he got knocked out to being like _this_ safely, he didn't even have the coat on he had before, what disregard for his safety! He was defiantly not safe!

Konohamaru lifted his head lightly, just enough to survey his surroundings...He was being carried up steps, looking across at a rather long front lawn...The white house! They were taking him home...? Why would he be being brought here? He should have thought about this more, he knew he should have, but he couldn't waste the chance to warn his Grandfather. So with his one chance to catch his captor by surprise, Konohamaru kicked the man in the chest as hard as he could, then grabbed on to the back of the man's shirt and pulled his body completely off the man's shoulder. Konohamaru flipped forward and landed on his feet, then ran around the two men and darted up the stairs toward the door...

That's when the thought crossed his mind, why would his captors be taking him _here_, the place with quite possibly the most security in the country? 'Oh man, what's going on here!'

"Come back here you little brat" The two men ran after him, the two men dressed as Konoha policemen that had just kidnapped him. If he couldn't trust the police, who could he thrust? Back in Orochimaru's towers he had been told that people in his Grandfather's administration had been working for the Sound, like Kabuto.., well he'd been only told about Kabuto but there had to be more right?

Konohamaru had to get to his Grandfather, and no one else, that was the only person he could trust right now.

Konohamaru burst into the front door, he really shouldn't have had a problem doing anything but for some reason security was trying to stop him. It was apparent now that this wouldn't be easy...maybe if he got some help...But how!

! - ! - !

"Uff!" Shikamaru and Naruto both were thrown through the living room wall, Shikamaru managed to go far enough to break through the dining room table. "Damn, this guy is really strong." Shikamaru grunted, right before his senses started flaring from the imminent attack coming blind from behind the smoke caused by the destroyed wall. The sound of gears shifting began, making what Shikamaru knew apparent to Naruto. They both dived to opposite sides as Jiroubou's Glatting gun cut through the smoke with a furry of ammunition, none of which hit it's intended target.

Lee came from behind the large man, driving his fist into Jiroubou's back. Though everyone else's physical attacks were weak against someone with as high a defense as Jiroubou, Lee was strong enough to do considerable damage where even Shikamaru couldn't. Jiroubou was forced to take a step forward to keep from stumbling, he turned abruptly with his gun stretched outward, slamming the long barrels in to the side of his head. "It's pointless for you to even attempt to fight me. Is this how they train Konoha's soldiers? Weaklings."

"We are not weak!" Naruto shouted, charging in to the room from the hole in the wall his body had just created with gun drawn outward and firing rapidly. Sure the bullets hit Jiroubou square in the chest, but the 9mm round could visibly be seen bouncing back and falling to the ground next to the shell casings. Naruto looked at his weapon "Eh?"

"You think something weak like that can penetrate this armor." Jiroubou took at step forward, and reached his free arm out, grabbing Naruto by the head and pulling him in while he drove his knee outward into the boy's stomach. Along with every bit of air in his lungs, a fair about of saliva and blood expelled from his mouth as he was launched into the air by the blow. "Pitiful."

"Well how about this?" Sasuke dived out in front of Naruto, his riffle stretched outward towards Jiroubou and firing wildly with each shot from the fully automatic weapon tore into the wide expanses of Jiroubou's torso. Sasuke landed, able to see then that even this much more powerful weapon wasn't able to create even an imprint in the armor. "Damnit."

Jiroubou lifted the long barreled Glatting gun and fired towards Sasuke, Sasuke crawled backwards toward Naruto, who was lifting the same handgun over Sasuke's shoulder and firing at Jiroubou's targeting weapon though he was trying to aim for his hand. With two shots hailed on to the high powered weapon it was knocked off course and missed them completely, instead drilling into the remains of the wall behind them. "We gotta get that body armor off." Naruto said, "Or else we'll never get at him."

Shikamaru sprang towards Jiroubou from out of nowhere, kicking him across the face and landing behind him. He knew that he barely if at all hurt Jiroubou, though that wasn't his intent, it was to draw him away from Naruto, that much was clear when he started hand seals "Shadow mimic no jutsu!" His shadow shot outward in to Jiroubou's, blinding his body.

"What is this?" Jiroubou tried to move but he found himself unable too, though he was obviously surprised by this he found that he was strong enough to fight it. "Not a bad skill, but you can't expect to hold me with this!"

Shikamaru grunted, trying his best to hold a struggling Jiroubou, he was way too strong and the fact that his arm was starting to hurt again from Chakra use didn't help. "Lee, get that armor off of him." He shouted, "Naruto, Sasuke, just keep his attacks away, he's breaking lose..."

Lee came from the front, jumping up a few feet enough to bypass the body armor and punch him directly in the jaw. Then he planted his hands on Jiroubou's shoulder as he was still rising into the air and flipped over the man's shoulders, bringing him in reach with the straps holding on the armor. Lee was able to reach down and pull off one before Jiroubou broke free of Shikamaru's hold and grabbed Lee by the head. "Nice try." Jiroubou snorted, letting Lee fall enough for him to grab him by his leg and then slam the tri-barrel gun unto his face, hard "But your out of your league. How can they send kids like you to defend the sources?"

"Your one to talk!" Naruto jumped on the barrel, forcing it down away from Lee as it began to fire while Sasuke grabbed the arm Jiroubou was holding Lee with, pulling it forward while he kicked Jiroubou's leg. Knocking the large man to the ground. With the opening, Naruto aimed toward the man's head, one of the only places unprotected on Jiroubou. Jiroubou reached out and grabbed Naruto by the leg, pulling him down to the ground forcefully and halting his attack.

Jiroubou drove his elbow into Sasuke's chin, throwing him backwards, he was easily able to climb to his feet afterwords. Shikamaru attempted to attack from behind, throwing a kick into the back of Jiroubou's head, but it was ineffective at best, Jiroubou was easily able to dive his head back into Shikamaru's. Shikamaru was knocked backwards with a stream of blood drawing from his nose and left cheek.

"All of you have too much persistence and not enough skill. It's foolish for you to attempt to take someone like me on. " Jiroubou scowled, he was the only person here that hadn't retained any damage. "Your just half trained pawns, giving your lives for a weak country."

"How about me?" Lee flipped on to his feet, driving his fist into Jiroubou's stomach and then another one directly into Jiroubou's mouth. Jiroubou struck back with his own punch, but Lee was too quick, he crouched down under the man's arm and grabbed on it with one hand, pivoting around and throwing him over his shoulder. Jiroubou was slammed to the ground with a light shake, Lee still retaining a grip on the man's arm, drove his foot down on his head, which Jiroubou caught and pushed him back by.

Jiroubou stood to his feet just as Lee regained himself, then he thrust his Glatting gun in to Lee's stomach, very painfully, and pulled the trigger. Luckily for Lee Sasuke was there to knock the gun off target with fire from his riffle, Lee took the opportunity again, pushing past the side of the long barreled gun and thrust a fist upward at Jiroubou's face. Jiroubou caught his hand and squeezed tightly... "Ahaaaaa!" Lee gasped and almost immediately dropped to his knees, attempting to pull his hand back before every bone that composed it was broken, he'd already felt something crack. Finding himself unable to get away, Lee instead swept his foot across the ground and into Jiroubou's legs while he punched the man in his knee, forcing him to let go as he fell to the ground with a loud crash

Lee held his formerly captured hand lightly, something was most definitely broken, 'Ow...'

"Shadow mimic no Jutsu." Shikamaru called out, extending his shadow into Jiroubou's while the man was still down. "Now!" Shikamaru forced him to roll on to his stomach so they could gain access to the armor, the key to taking him down once and for all.

Sasuke and Naruto sprang on to his back, Naruto loosening the second strap while Sasuke pulled off the third and final one. "Get the hell off of me." Jiroubou grunted loudly as he broke free of Shikamaru's Jutsu and pushed himself off the ground, the armor falling off his blue uniform as he did so. Jiroubou bucked Naruto and Sasuke off his back and into the air, then he jumped off the ground, grabbing both of them by the necks. With a loud grunt he threw both of them back up into the air and drove both of his fist into their stomach, knocking both of them outward with Naruto landing some where in the living room while Sasuke burst through the door to the kitchen. The two of them did manage to get in a small nod to each other before it happen, one in simple agreement. They scattered as soon as they hit the ground.

"The armor's off, great." Lee picked up the rather heavy body armor and tossed it aside, holding the broken hand loosely behind his back, and it _really_ hurted. But still he charged at Jiroubou, driving his foot outward into Jiroubou's stomach, then he kicked off the man's torso, into the air, and thrust another kick across his face before his body drifted out of range. Naruto dived under the attacking Lee, sliding just in front of the man while pushing the handgun upward and pressing it against Jiroubou's chest while Sasuke jumped on to his back, aimed the riffle downward and they both opened fire at the same time.

"!" It all happened so quickly, in 5 seconds Naruto had emptied the rest of his clip while Sasuke deemed it enough and jumped off a seemingly dazed Jiroubou that was amazingly still standing. Lee was the one that gave the final blow, a sharp kick to the side of a very stunned Jiroubou's head, who landed on his left shoulder and rolled on to his back...'Damnit...'

"We didn't even have to take 'drastic measures' Sasuke." Naruto sighed with a breath of relief, rubbing the red liquid off the back of his head with his palm and spit out a fairly decent amount of blood, he was sure now that Jiroubou had caused some internal bleeding somewhere behind those burses he felt forming. He lifted his hand to his chest, unintentionally wincing from the pressure. 'Damn that guy hit hard...'

"I guess not." Sasuke stripped himself of the S.W.A.T vest that coved his torso, noticing that it wasn't nearly as thick as Jiroubou's, and then inspected his seeping left arm. A bullet had lodged itself in his bicep. "Come on, we have to find Konohamaru."

"Not so fast." Jiroubou called out, holding up a small square remote covered in bloody finger prints. "I can't believe that I'm forced to use this against you, but it has to be done..." Jiroubou pressed a few keys, then a red button before he tossed it aside, causing the small device to skip across the ground, over a few piles of debris from the broken wall and into the dining room. It stuck something noticeable, someone's foot...from the second demolished wall in the dining room a group of men dressed in KPD uniforms entered the house from the outside, though they were most likely Sound soldiers, by the way they hesitated they most definitely were.

Lee's eyes widened and he took an apprehensive step back, he felt something coming from Jiroubou... "Wh-What did you just do?"

"I'm sure your familiar with Curse seal, the Nanomachines developed by Kabuto..." Jiroubou's eyes became completely black in one shift like changing winds, the orange hair on his head growing thicker and longer by the second, even more noticeably his skin was shifting hue to a deep red. "It is able to change the very DNA of a cell, even to stimulate rapid cell growth and create billions of new cells with in moments. I never thought I would need to take this level on an assignment like this..." Jiroubou jumped upward from the pooling blood on hardwood floors and landed on his feet hard enough to make everything shake and cause imprints to form. The orange hair now covered his entire head and extended down in a wild mass reaching his back, each muscle had become so toned and enlarged that they seem barely able to stay contained behind the red skin. And his eyes were black with red pupils, emitting a strength only Lee and Shikamaru could fully detect.

"Which problem should we deal with first?" Naruto looked around nervously, between the group of 7 or so 'police officers' and Jiroubou who was motioning them to help, things weren't looking for them.

"We'll handle him." Shikamaru indicated Lee and himself when he spoke about who would take on Jiroubou. "You two can handle them since you are trained to fight against people with guns. With guns, with guns, _with guns_--"

"Naruto!" Sasuke apparently got the hint before Naruto did. "Go!"

"! Oh, right!" Naruto, being closer to Jiroubou's Glatting gun, in fact right next to it, reached down and picked up the heavy weapon that had been knocked from Jiroubou's hands.

! - ! - !

With a deep breath to clear away the nervousness that gripped him, Iruka shot the lock under the door's handle then kicked the metal barrier open. The door slammed against the wall on the other side and with gun drawn outward, he found a small stairwell ascending to the second floor. With no choice but to persist forward, Iruka slowly climbed the stairs, his back against the left wall and both opposed caliber weapons held upward and ready. He was carefully making his way up toward a second door at the end of his trail, one he easily reached with out incident.

'...' He knelt down, pressing his hands against the door and peering through a small keyhole...there was nothing on the other side, not even a sound. 'I guess it's safe.' Hoping to find that could help him reconnect phone services or something that would lead him to a control room, Iruka drew back a step and kicked open the door... "!" He immediately drew both guns up and ready as a similar one was thrust into his face...with shaky eyes he stared up at the weapon, then shifted his focus up toward the barer "Kabuto."

"Your hours away from when I thought you get here." Kabuto lifted his free hand, and adjusted his glasses by the rim of the left lens. They were in another large room, one filled with about 30 to 40 monitors disputed along several circular desks, along with control panels, CPUs and keyboards on just about every one and both walls, most notably was the back wall opposite of the stairs. It was made of long panes of thick glass over looking the area behind the building, an area that housed thousands of outward streaming phone lines, grids and machines. This was the security office, the only thing odd was that every monitor was displaying... static? What? "I knew you'd be the one to figure it out."

"What the hell are you trying to do?" Iruka rolled to the side, out of the path of Kabuto just as the man fired. He felt something extremely hot grace his left shoulder, making him realized how close that had been but prompting him to fight. Iruka landed behind one of the desks then immediately sprang back up, thrusting the weapons over the counter's surface and fired dual shots at Kabuto.

"Isn't it obvious?" Kabuto jumped to the side, out of the line of fire then crouched while he moved forward to farther evade Iruka's relatively slow adjusting aim. With his skill he was able to avoid being hit until he reached Iruka, Kabuto leapt upward, over the desk and delivered a swift punch into Iruka's jaw. Iruka stumbled backwards from the powerful blow until a sharp tug from Kabuto grabbing him by his shirt's collar drew him forward. "Why do you think I would go through all of this trouble? To do all of this?"

Iruka drove his head forward in to Kabuto's and shook free of the white haired man's hold, then he thrust another headbutt into Kabuto and pushed him away with his shoulder, also managing to force the gun from Kabuto's hands in the process. "Your attacking Konoha again!" Iruka's voice elevated shouted with the spark of realization, "No, you can't be, you don't have the forces."

Kabuto receded slightly and came back at Iruka with a swift kick, one that missed Iruka's stomach because of the man's quick elusive actions but and managed to knock the gun from his left hand by striking him in the arm. "You don't get it do you, I would have thought that if you came this far and figured out this many things that you would see what's staring you right in the face. But that's to be expected when dealing with Konoha, weak and stupid."

"Weak and stupid?" Iruka lifted the second handgun and opened fire, though Kabuto was quick, Iruka managed to hit him in the shoulder before Kabuto strifed to the left. "Your the one who-- ooofff!" Iruka was cut off by a swift punch to the stomach by a very quick Kabuto crouching in front of him. Followed by a swift uppercut into his chin and a punch to the side of his head. Iruka took the attacks in stride, leaned to the side and caught Kabuto's arm during the next attempt of one, then he grabbed on to Kabuto's neck with his other hand and threw him over the circular desk in front of them, managing to take out a few monitors along with him.

'...' Kabuto landed on his shoulder, particularly the one with a bullet lodged inside that causing a good amount of bleeding, which made the pain even worse. He ignored the injury, looking around just to scout his own discarded weapon, which turned out was right in front of him, before he diving from out behind the desk to retrieve it.

He landed right in front of Iruka and once again they found themselves in a dead lock of sorts, both with guns aimed at rather fatal regions of the other's body. "What are you trying to do?" Iruka asked in a voice much more fierce then his normal parameters of tone dictated him to use, of course since he was talking to Kabuto, he was always bitter when he spoke to this person. This person who always pushed his limits of physical strength, endurance and mental stamina when ever they met.

"Every time I plan something, the same people, _you_ are constantly there, creating opposition." Kabuto smirked "Though I admit confrontations with you are interesting, you and your friends constantly interfere and conflict with our plans. That's why I was ordered to get you out of the way once and for all."

Iruka hesitated for a moment, he knew he heard something in what Kabuto was saying, a fact waiting to be discovered. But that hesitation gave Kabuto the opening he was looking for and he quickly pulled the trigger, Iruka, on a count of the hesitation, reacted a half second too late in his attempt to evade and ended up being shot in the side. '!' Iruka fell back as Kabuto climbed to his feet, returning fire rapidly to attempt to keep Kabuto at bay while he was regaining himself. "You talk like your doing all of this just to kill us off."

"Finally got it eh Iruka, a little slower then I would prefer." Kabuto took a few steps back, then abruptly shifted his head to the left, feeling a bullet burn the side of his cheek. 'His aim has gotten better...' "Better late then never."

"No, you can't be going through all of this just for us." Iruka, holding the searing wound on his left side, reached up from the ground and grabbed on to the nearest curved desk. A few grunts forced their way from his mouth on his way up, but once he got to his feet he could fight through it, since he had no other choice but to do so. Iruka removed his hand from around his stomach and raised the now bloody gun toward Kabuto who was in the middle of advancing but was halted by the weapon blocking his path to his target, he only had time to lift his own in to similar position towards Iruka. Another dead lock "There is no way you would take the risk of commandeering an entire phone company and cut off telecommunications for all this whole city just to get me here. It's only a matter of time before someone comes looking here, which should be soon."

They both opened fire on each other at the same time, only to be highly disappointed when an empty click drew out from the weapons. Both of them were out of ammunition, and with a slight fear running through his blood Iruka dropped the useless .22 and grabbed Kabuto by the arm. Iruka pulled Kabuto in while throwing his other fist upward, he managed to get in a fairly good punch into Kabuto's stomach. "That's the Iruka thinking I know." Kabuto said with a light smirk before he pulled his hand free of Iruka's grasp and wrapped both arms around Iruka's waist, with one swift motion he lifted him off the ground and threw him into the wall.

Within an instant Kabuto was holding Iruka against the wall by the neck and driving his knee up directly into the wound in the other man's stomach. A cry of pain tore it's way from Iruka's throat, he could feel the bleeding increasing among other pains. "There's something much larger going on, but you won't be alive long enough to find out, nor will those other's, they should be meeting their demise about now."

"I...don't care what you do to me..." Iruka cringed, biting away any other signs of the pain that threatened to come, he couldn't show that much weakness in front of Kabuto... "But I won't... let you hurt them!" Iruka reached upward, seizing Kabuto's neck in a similar hold. Then with much surprise to Kabuto, Iruka lifted him off the ground with one hand, then slammed him down to the ground. "I won't let you! Not again!" With anger rushed through him as his mind shifted back to the memory of their last encounter and his lack of strength, that wouldn't happen again, he wouldn't let it!

Iruka climbed on top of Kabuto, still with a strong hold on his neck, then sent a fury of punches down on to him, making sure to strike his shoulder a few time. Kabuto was surprised to say the least, this caught him off guard but he didn't have time to think of the nature of Iruka's motivation, not if he wanted to survive. Kabuto was able to slip his hands from underneath Iruka's knees where they were pined down, and then grab Iruka's shoulder and throw him off. Iruka's hold on his neck was too strong to break, so the best he could do was climb on top of him and pin the man down in turn. But Iruka kept fighting him, two strong wills going head to head that it became a match of strength for dominance, it lasted 5 minutes strait even though it felt like an eternity. 'He's gotten stronger?' Kabuto had noticed it, he couldn't help but notice what he was up against 'In such a short amount of time.'

Iruka was finally able to kick Kabuto off of him, sending him sliding a few feet away against a desk. Iruka scrambled to get to his feet as Kabuto pushed himself off the curved desk and charged at him, Iruka halted his advances with a swift kick to the chest, knocking Kabuto back a few steps.

Kabuto managed to catch his leg after the impact, holding it close to his waist with one arm and sweeping Iruka's remaining foot off the ground through a swift kick to Iruka's leg. Iruka put his left hand back and caught himself, being held off in an interesting position with Kabuto seizing one leg, his other leg hanging loosely beside it, one arm planting on the ground behind him while the other hand was docile since it couldn't reach the ground in this position. "Kabuto!" Iruka growled fiercely, kicking Kabuto across the side of his face with his free leg hard enough to force him to let go.

With his leg now free, Iruka caught himself and scrambled once again to stand, but the pain caused him to hunch over lightly and clinched the still bleeding side of his stomach right after. Kabuto clinched his left shoulder, he and Iruka both paused, both panting heavily with injuries now more painful and in worse condition then when they first were inflicted on to them. Iruka and Kabuto both seemed to notice something at the same time, the .50 that Iruka had carried with him earlier, that Kabuto had knocked out of his hand was laying on the ground beside them... With a quick glance to each other they both dived for it, but Iruka being the closer of the two managed to reach it first. And seeing this, Kabuto immediately took cover behind the nearest desk.

'I'm losing to much blood.' Kabuto knelt down on one knee, holding his shoulder, and with a closer examination he found that he'd been shot twice in two spots very close together, the reason he was losing so much more blood then Iruka was. At this rate he'd bleed to death before Iruka had a chance to kill him, with that in mind and the thought that he had to do something drastic he stood from behind the desk he used as cover, and Iruka was already aiming. "Well this is it Umino Iruka, now well see just how good you've become." Kabuto jumped over the desk and charged head on at the man.

'What dose he mean by that?' Iruka grabbed on to a monitor hanging off the wall, using it to help him get up while he held the gun out stretched with his other hand and fired his first shot at Kabuto. Kabuto shifted his path to the side and evaded, Iruka fired another shot and Kabuto crouched down slightly, feeling the bullet moving just over his head. "Kabuto!" Iruka fired another missed shot just as Kabuto dived into Iruka.

What happened next went fairly quick...The latest shot from Iruka missed it's target, but it did hit a power cord directly hanging off the ceiling, that power cord connected to the lights, meaning it was full of electricity. That broken cord sparking electricity fell in a swing motion on to a desk, and onto a broken monitor already damaged from previous shots. That monitor, though broken, had still been plugged into an outlet, so when the electricity from the broken cord streamed in to the monitor... it could only exploded. If that hadn't been bad enough a feedback was sent into the outlet, and a very powerful and still forthcoming surge causing everything connected to a power source in the room to go up with it.

Kabuto had meant to just tackle Iruka to the ground, but instead the explosions sent the both of them into the back of the room and smashing through the wall of glass engulfed in shards and flames.

! - ! - !

Gai managed to catch up with Sakon, having a high performance machine like he did it was only a matter of time. Though the icy roads and blizzard didn't help him do it. "Hey! Stop!" Gai rammed in to the white car next to him.

"Hey, they were right, you are fast." Sakon smirked. "I was told you were good, let's see how good you really are." He said, holding up a small remote. Sakon pulled off the road into an quickly passing off ramp, it lead up to a bridge that ran parallel to this road in every twist in turn it took, only it was out of reach to Gai by a 10 foot gap over water.

"!" Gai whipped the green vehicle about face and headed towards the exit he'd passed about 300 feet back, but before he could reach it a small explosion and an uprising of flames severed the small off ramp cleanly, dropping it into the water below. 'What!...No he trapped the road!' With that painful realization Gai stopped dead in his tracks, just in time as another wall of flames shot up before him and about a 100 feet behind, this part road was also about to be severed! No! He was on this part of the road! 'No...' Gai quickly turned around in the open street , his stomach clinching when he felt the part of the road he was under suddenly drop. But luckily he'd just barely made it off in time.

With a small sigh of relief Gai reassessed the situation, Sakon was trying to kill him, the road he was driving on was rigged to plunge 30 feet in to some very icy waters. And Sakon was 5 above and 10 feet across from him on a safe road, out of range of his riffle. His only choices were to survive on this road until the explosive traps ran out. "He's destroying Konoha property! This will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair!" besides his concern for Konoha property he had no idea _when_ those traps would run out, they could go on for who knows how many miles. So his second option was to take out Sakon, but he had nothing that could reach him from here! 'Noooooooooooo!...wait, yes I do!'

Gai shifted the car in to cruse control, though he lost speed, it was worth the time. He reached into his back seat, finding the familiar strap under the cushions that allowed him to lift it up. Below lay a long steel case, one that he could barely drive while opening but some how he managed to and retrieved the contents. It took someone of his strength to lift the weapon with one hand, a weapon suited for some one as strong physically and personality wise as Gai. A rocket launcher!

Gai reached up, flipping a switch above his rearview mirror that lowered the ceiling and opened the interior of his prized auto to a blizzard. 'For a good cause, for a good cause...' Gai told himself, lifting the long barreled black weapon on to his shoulder with one hand on the trigger while he clinched the steering wheel with his other hand. 'I've got 6 shots, I do have 10 more extra back there but there's no way I'd be able to reload something like this while--'

"Come on, pay attention, you'll live longer." Sakon shouted. The break was over, Gai saw an eruption of black smoke shoot out of cracks forming exactly on the divining yellow lines of his lane from where he was now to about 500 feet ahead. Gai veered to the left, shifting lanes just as a good portion of it fell off with a loud splash, there was just a void left behind... Another geyser of smoke shot out of the ground directly in front of him, only this time instead of imploding and falling it instead exploded. Gai pulled to the right and around it just in time as the concrete buckled and was forced upward in a jagged formation.

"Not bad Meito Gai." Sakon called out, still side by side with Gai on the parallel road.

"Don't call me by my full name, it's annoying!" That wasn't really the case, Gai just wanted to say something while he turned the Rocket launcher toward Sakon and fired. With a thick trail of white smoke left behind it, the black missile streaked through the cloudy, snow fogged air toward Sakon, who hit the brakes just in time to see the rocket explode in front of him. 'No, I missed!'

'Where did that come from?' Sakon looked down at the remote in his hand, 'I have to be quick with him.'

With the sight's lens that protruded from the side of the missile pressed against his eye, Gai carefully aimed his next shot, but of course it wouldn't be that easy. The next approaching off ramp, it didn't lead to Sakon, exploded violently, sending a torent of large, jagged pieces of burning concrete into the air and raining down on him. If it wasn't for those flames Gai would have had a much harder time avoiding them, but with masterful skill Gai wove in-between the pieces and dodged the falling debris that smashed into the ground. Before he could even think about firing the immensely large gun holstered on his shoulder, another blast of black smoke and uprising wall of flames destroyed the lane ahead of him. "!" With a small grunt he eased on the brakes just enough to make the narrow turn and drive on to the next one.

It was less then a second after that another long crack shot through the dividing marks of this lane with an out pouring of black smoke. Gai started to feel the road lean to the left ... prompting him to make a turn to the left sharper then he would have liked to have had to make and launch his car off the edge of a small gap to a sold path . 'That was...close.' Gai watched the whole far left lane as far as the eye could see, which wasn't far since snow made visibility limited, lean to the side, just narrowly missing the second bridge, and crash into the water. Gai stuck his head over the driver side door, glaring up at Sakon who was a safe ways away. "Stop blowing up the road!"

"Heh." Sakon just laughed at his comment "Let's see if you can survive this!"

"What is he..." Gai's voice trailed off and he watched in shock as another uprising of smoke signaled the severing of the road ahead him, creating a 50 foot gap from this side to the next. Gai could barely judged the distance on his own because of the thick snowfall, and to make things worse he saw another geyser of smoke shoot into the air behind him, meaning his only chance was to keep going, he'd be stranded other wise...So with a nervous sweat breaking out, Gai reached down and shifted gears causing the familiar roar of his engine to grow louder and steadily increase in pitch. Could a high performance car in four wheel drive make a roughly 50 feet jump going 170 and gaining mph on an icy road with a 29 degree incline at the very edge of the road?

Gai was tempted to close his eyes when the green vehicle launched into the air, the sinking feeling in his stomach grew until it was almost nauseas as he sailed nearly blind across the gap. But he'd be damned if he was going to let this Sakon guy send him over a the edge with out doing anything about it. So he shifted the black rocket launcher towards the bridge on his left and fired a shot at Sakon... The missile screeched, tearing through the white power and dived directly at Sakon, but to his luck Gai's aim was off a little and it crashed just behind him, but not with out smashing through every window in his car and scorching him.

Satisfied that he'd done some damage, Gai shut his eyes nervously and tensed substantially as he waited for what seemed like forever until he felt that hard impact of his vehicle hitting the ground then sliding uncontrollably on the icy surface. Gai flinched and reigned it back into control. "I'm getting to old for this! Sakon!"

"Geez, how'd I get stuck with an annoying guy like this?" Sakon grunted, staring over at Gai's car co-linear to his...He saw a curve coming ahead, a sharp curve that made a complete circle around a large tower and came back, going under these two bridges. Both roads stayed side by side with each other the whole time. Seeing this he remembered of a trap that had been set here...

Gai, taking advantage of Sakon's hesitation, started aiming his third round, and just when he got ready to fire a perfectly positioned shot...the ground started shaking with an ear deafening rumble, so loud that he could barely hear himself think! 'Where is that horrible noise coming from?' Gai couldn't seem to tell, it was like it was coming from every direction...Gai looked back, he could see the road breaking off behind him, all of it was cracking and falling with loud explosions and uprising walls of smoke and flames, and it was chasing after him! 'Damn...' Even with that, the nature of Gai's dismay was on the other side of the upcoming curve, the same thing was happening over there. In a cascading motion his bridge was crumbling and detonating from both sides, he was already trapped.

"How do I get out of this! Think Gai think! There must be away, even if this looks impossibly like imitate death! " He was mentally pounding his head, trying to think quickly for one good... As his gaze settled on the large building that the highway wrapped around, a rather, daring dangerous idea formed in his head, one that only the best driver in Konoha could possibly pull off. With no time to waste he shifted gears for the final time, hearing the distinct raise in pitch of his engine that came along with it.

With the quickly approaching cascade blocking him and the what looked to be an about 6 story building beside him side, Gai veered sharply to the left and spun the direction of his car 180 degrees so that he was now facing the guard rail beside the highway bridge and the building, though he was still sliding 'This can't be good for my tires!' Then drove forward with every ounce of acceleration his former race car had. 'Come on luck!' Gai wrapped his whole arm around the rocket launcher as he smashed through the metal railing and sent himself flying off the road across a 20 foot gap, then he fired another missile from the lunched and into the side of the steel tower. An explosion ripped through the side of the building, blowing open the wall allowing his car to sail into the third floor with a rush of glass shards and flames.

To his barley contained happiness he landed on white tiled floors, though his rear wheels almost didn't make it completely. "I don't have time to waste!" Gai shouted, plowing through an empty floor filled with hardwood desks, glass cubical, that he either avoided or smashed through if he deemed he would lose too much speed trying to get out of it's way. In a few seconds he was halfway across the office, prompting him to fire off another missile into the opposite wall. Another loud explosion ripped open the steel just enough for his car to fit through with a few inches to spare, and with that he was sailing through the air again, diving a 2 ton vehicle through a blanket of snow over freezing cold waters, since the road he'd been on had already completely collapsed and receding into the sea. Which only left one placed for him to go, a very lucky jump on to the second highway bridge and a hard landing directly in front of Sakon.

"It's over!" Gai lifted the rocket launched on his shoulder and fired his final missile directly at the particularly fast white car coming head on at him. It couldn't miss, infact it flew directly through the broken windshield and exploded. The force threw the half incinerated frame in to the air. "!" Gai crouched his head down just enough for a burning frame to pass over his prized car and land only a few feet away, it had come so close that he could feel the heat... Gai slumped back in his seat and let out a sigh of relief. "It's...over..."

"Not...quite..." A weak voice called out, so weak that Gai barely heard it...but he knew it, and it immediately made him sit up and look to his right near the inflamed wreckage that used to a car. Sakon lay on the ground beside it, some how alive but barely at best. He was drenched in burns covered by blood, Gai couldn't even see the man's face from all of the red liquid... "Curse seal...level 2."

"What?" Gai watched with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open, he couldn't believe what he was seeing! Sakon was healing before his eyes, and what ever he'd been wearing on his back had started to make a humming noise... black marks started to creep on to his almost feminine face originating from his neck, from the machine on his back. Gai couldn't believe it until he saw Sakon stand. "It's...it's not possible!"

"Do you think you could kill me this easily?" Sakon ripped off the small hood on his shirt that covered the black, square, device he was warring. "We've only begun!"

'This never ends.' Gai thought of the notion of running this guy over, but his car had completely stalled, and with good reason after taking that much damage...Gai looked up at Sakon, a small furry growing in his eyes. "You!...You did this to my car!"

Sakon scratched his head. "What?"

"You did who knows what to the people who travel this road, you blow up a highway that took 7 years to build!" Gai took a small glance back where the where a 4 lane road used to be as he lowered the rocket launcher and opened a proportionately large compartment that had been over his shoulder when he carried the weapon. His hands move quickly to reload the 6 of 10 missiles stored in the steel box under his back seat. "And even worse, you do _this_ to _my_ car!" With an angry growl, Gai stood up, leveraging the 6 shot rocket launcher on to his right shoulder while he jumped out of the stalled green vehicle. "I, Mito Gai the beautiful green beast of Konoha, will take you down Sakon of the Sound!"

! - ! - !

It was really peaceful. Sarutobi had just finished reading over a few papers with the news playing on a TV mounted on the wall set to mute when he noticed it. Sarutobi looked down at his watch, it was 7:30 in the morning, the time when things usually started up. There should have been the sounds of people walking past, phone's ringing, something of that nature, or at least his secretary dropping by to ask if her favorite President as she put, needed a cup of coffee.

It was around the time when he woke Konohamaru up, or occasionally had someone do it for him, and met him for breakfast in the dizzyingly large dinning room with a very audible echo. But it was quiet, dead silent in fact. "Is today a holiday?" Sarutobi glanced over to an open laptop on his desk and checked the calendar, things were known to be slightly more quiet during those days, but it wasn't one of them.

"Hmm..." Sarutobi stood up from his chair and walked from around his desk with short steps. He turned off the TV on his way to the door, then reached outward and turned the handle...or attempted too anyway. It didn't move, locked. "What? Hey!" Sarutobi pounded on the door with his fist, there was no reason he should be locked in, if it was for security reasons then someone would have told him. He didn't know what was going on, but he intended to find out, and he couldn't do that in here.

Sarutobi turned to the side and delivered a swift kick to the pair of doors separating him from the outside, he was strong enough to knock off the lock and force them open. "What's going...on...here..." Sarutobi looked outside at the completely empty corridor outside the oval office, there was even an echo...this place was never empty! He couldn't get over that, it made him think something was wrong... '...?'

Sarutobi froze, he would have gone deeper down the hall but something told him that what he really needed to be focused on was right here, inside of his office. "I should have guessed it." The old man sighed, narrowing his eyes into a dangerous gaze as he slowly turned around. He found none other then Orochimaru sitting in his chair with his feet up on his desk and his legs crossed as if he was relaxed. With out another thought Sarutobi unbuttoned the black suit coat he wore and tossed it aside discardingly. "Get the hell out of my chair."

Orochimaru rested his arms behind his head "Your a fool if you think I'm going to leave, not after I waited so long for this day."

"Leave?" Sarutobi reached back and grabbed on to the handles of the doors, pulling them closed before reinstating the lock since it was apparent no on was here that could help him, he'd been set up. "I see you went through all of the trouble of doing who knows what to my staff and security." He said bitterly "What _did_ you do?"

"Dose it matter old man?"

Sarutobi reached up and loosened his tie with a few small tugs "It dose matter. Where is my staff... where is my grandson?"

"Heh, I'll give the little bastard some credit, he managed to find out what was going on before you did. Which doesn't speak highly of you" Orochimaru said "Of course I couldn't let him tell you, that would ruin everything. So I had catch him, he's on his way back as we speak. And don't worry about me killing him, I've got much bigger plans for the boy."

"If you hurt him again--"

Orochimaru pushed himself back just enough to stand "You'll what?"

"I'll make your death slow and painful." Sarutobi slowly began to walk toward the younger man, he knew it had to happen some day, he just didn't think it would be like this. Orochimaru was smart, he knew that much, if he could organize something like _this, _something on this scale... "This is it Orochimaru!" He shouted, knowing that Orochimaru was growing more dangerous, more lethal to this country by the day. He had to stop him now, because if he waited any longer then Orochimaru may grow more powerful... If he had to do this himself then and turn Orochimaru's assassination plan back on to him, so be it. "This doesn't involve my grandson or any one else, it's only between me and you. And since you've gone through all of the trouble to set this up, it's going to end here, now. "

"I could have had you killed hours ago." Orochimaru said with a cocky tone, his body completely relaxed as he approached, completely apposed to Sarutobi who was so tense that he was almost shaking. "But after all these years it wouldn't have felt right if I didn't do it my self, only fitting right? The student surpassing the teacher."

"Don't take me too lightly." Sarutobi stepped forward and threw a punch at Orochimaru, Orochimaru blocked it with his lifted arm and reached out for Sarutobi with his free hand. Sarutobi crouched just under Orochimaru's arm and punched him in the stomach. Then pushed Orochimaru away. "I taught you everything you know, don't think you can kill me so easily."

"Is that why you think you stand a chance?" Orochimaru, having a longer reach, drew his leg back and sent a sharp kick into Sarutobi's chest. With a small grunt and a step back to catch himself, Sarutobi reached upward, pulling Orochimaru down by his neck and thrust his left fist upward into the side of Orochimaru's face. Orochimaru reached down and caught Sarutobi in a similar hold. "You don't know how long I've been waiting for this old man." Orochimaru lifted Sarutobi off the ground enough for him to slam their heads together hard and force Sarutobi to let go, then he threw him with all the strength he had gained.

Sarutobi curled inward loosely, enough to flip in a half revolution before he uncurled and his feet landed against the wall his back would have crashed into with out that maneuver. With years of practice, Sarutobi kicked off the wall and dived head on at Orochimaru. "!" Sarutobi drew his leg back and drove down a strong kick into Orochimaru's head right as they collided. Orochimaru fell back on to Sarutobi's desk, but immediately kicked the elder man back before his body could reach the ground. "You speak as though you didn't start this war." Sarutobi snorted, rubbing his chest slightly where he'd been hit.

"You started this along time ago Sarutobi!" Orochimaru shot back angrily, pushing himself off the desk in a flurry of scattered papers and a crash of a falling lamp and computer being knocked off. "Your the one that--"

Sarutobi sent another strong punch into Orochimaru's stomach, then tackled him, a obviously very powerful tackle since he drove Orochimaru completely through his desk. "You don't seem to realize how horrible a thing you were doing! Those were innocent people, I don't care what you were trying to do, you have no right to do that to them!" Sarutobi pinned Orochimaru down in the rubble, his left hand with a firm hold on Orochimaru's neck while he pounded into his face with furious punches. He started to feel his anger rising, it was nearly impossible to say which thing Orochimaru had done specifically that made him the maddest, all he knew was that he would make sure this would end here and now.

Orochimaru thrust his legs upward in a double kick to Sarutobi's stomach, he was strong enough to knock the older man a fairly high distance up into the air. "The past doesn't matter any more, The only thing that dose is that the Leaf country will be out of my way once and for all!" Orochimaru shouted, flipping on to his feet, catching the man and wrapping both arms tightly around Sarutobi's neck. "I hate this place, and it's about time I finally got rid of it."

"I always wondered what your parents did to you." Sarutobi scowled, his hands clinching Orochimaru's arms in attempt to pry them off. "You still don't get it do you, I'm fighting you not the entire population of the Sound country. You just want to kill everyone and every thing, your nothing more then a common terrorist, that's why your too weak to win a war."

"We'll see how weak I am when I'm through with you!" Orochimaru growled loudly as he threw Sarutobi forward. Sending the smaller body smashing through the glass doors in the back of the room and outside on to snow covered balcony.

He came to a sliding stop face down in the snow, his head crashed against the metal bars of the railing surrounding the terrace making sure he didn't go any farther. 'Damnit, I getting too old for this.' Sarutobi stifled any sound that would reveal his current pain, only cringing slightly as he pushed himself up on to his knees and pulled the thick pieces of glass smeared in his blood that had embedded themselves in his arms, legs and torso with haste. He was particularly aggrieved when he had to reach back and pull a large pieces of white wood from stuck in the flesh below his right shoulder blade. "Nothing you do will disprove how weak you are!" Sarutobi yelled, drawing his arm back and throwing the same piece of wood that had injured him at an approaching Orochimaru.

His aim was impeccable, that much apparent when the blood stained spike drove itself into Orochimaru's leg. "Senile Bastard!" Orochimaru nearly fell from the affliction, it gave Sarutobi the opening he was looking for and he immediately scrambled off the cold ground and charged as the man. Sarutobi planted both hands on Orochimaru's shoulders and used them to push himself upward, he was thrust above Orochimaru's head, pulling in both knees and driving his feet down into Orochimaru's face.

He used that blow to kick himself farther into the air while Orochimaru was thrown backwards on to the ground. "How quickly you for get what I did to Konoha last time!"

"Fool!" Sarutobi fell kneeling on top of Orochimaru, driving his knee into the younger man's stomach "You made your weapons! Your standard issues! Your ground support, your air support! Everything you have from _my_ dead prototypes! Your nothing but a traitor who wouldn't have gotten anywhere with out steeling from Konoha! WITH OUT STEALING FROM ME!"

Orochimaru coughed violently, expelling blood from his mouth on to the floor from internal bleeding and no doubt a few broken ribs. "Your going to die right here and now old man!" Orochimaru pulled the wooden spike out of his leg and thrust it up with both hands into Sarutobi's stomach, driving it completely through until it came out the other side. "And Konoha with you!"

"...!...!" Sarutobi found himself unable to speak, unable to move for that small second that his body went numb and unfeeling before the immense pain surged through him. He could only gasp and shake... He could feel the life draining from him in the form of blood streaming across the wood's surface to the carpet in a small river. "Oro...chimaru..."

Orochimaru pushed his former sensei's weak body off of him, slowly standing to his feet with a visible struggle and resistance from his broken ribs and damaged leg. "Damn you old man." He scowled, clinching his leg.

Sarutobi fell on to his knees and knees, but he knew it couldn't end like this, he couldn't let himself die so easily! He immediately sprang forward off of his knees and latched on to anything on the other man he could, Orochimaru's shirt. "Orochimaru!" Sarutobi grunted audibly, pulling himself on to his feet in a limping, heavily lagging stance, then wrapped his arms around Orochimaru's torso tightly while managing to constrict Orochimaru's arm also. "I wont...die that easily."

Orochimaru drew back, the look on Sarutobi's eyes, the expression on his face, the way he kept pulling himself closer in spite of the fact that he was only driving the white spike deeper into himself. It was haunting, this man wouldn't leave him alone. "Get the hell off of me!" He called out in a shaky voice.

"You still... don't get it...just because I don't...survive...doesn't mean Konoha wont." Sarutobi dug his fingers into Orochimaru's back, tightening the hold he had on the man. "Every person in this city...in the country...is strong, and they have something...you don't...Konoha will always...thrive!"

Orochimaru tried desperately to push him off, but he wouldn't move in inch. "What are you saying...Let go!" He gasped at a sharper pain in his back, something was burrowing into him...He looked back, and was surprised to find knife in Sarutobi's hand, going deeper, and deeper and deeper with each push and jab. Sarutobi was squeezing him against it 'Where did that come from?'

Sarutobi felt himself becoming weaker by the moment, but he kept his arms locked on the man, unwilling to yield as he forced the blade. It had been an old one kept as a decoration for his desk, a Kunai, and he managed to get it when he knocked Orochimaru through it. '!' He flinched and nearly fell when he heard a pounding on the doors at the head of the room.

The two wooden doors burst open as Konohamaru stumbled through, after apparently kicking it, bruised and bloody from numerous things he had to go through to make it here. "Grandpa! No!"

"Konohamaru!" Sarutobi looked up at Orochimaru, he couldn't let him get his hands on his grandson twice, not twice, not again! So with the last of his strength he forced the Kunai up into Orochimaru's back until he hit something solid that didn't permit him to go farther... Then he felt something streaming on to his hands, something less consistent then blood, a spinal fluid of sorts.

"Wha-What did you do?" Orochimaru felt his arms going numb, the next thing he knew he could barely move them. "What the hell did you do!"

"Heh heh." Sarutobi gave a weak smirk, "At least...I was able to do...something. Not as weak as you think huh Orochimaru." He gave one last mocking smile to Orochimaru, of whom he'd never felt more loathing of, and turned to Konohamaru. "Konohamaru, run."

"No! I gotta get you some help!" Konohamaru shook his head.

"It's too late...just--" Sarutobi fell to his knees, his arms finally releasing Orochimaru. Then with one last breath he collapsed on the ground with enough force to push the wooden spike out of him and let it settle beside him.

"No! No!" Konohamaru ran towards his fallen grandfather, only to have his path to be blocked by Orochimaru. "You---You killed my grandfather you son of a bitch!" The boy growled angrily. "You did this to him! You did this to him! You killed him you bastard!" Konohamaru felt his body tense until his whole form began to quiver. His vision blurred as tears burned in his reddening eyes, and he let them, he didn't care anymore, he didn't care about anything anymore.

It was amazing how quickly it happened, how quickly his mind became clouded with the feelings of unconstrained, pure and absolute rage that took control of every muscle in his body. His heart raced, subsequently making the heat in his body rise and swell up with in him like the fury in his mind, Konohamaru's mind. He could no longer control himself, he couldn't explain it, he didn't want to explain it, his body just moved on it's own and he let it. He just wanted to... "YOU BASTARD!"

! - ! - !

Flames raged around him as he tumbled down the final flight of stairs on to the first floor, Asuma landed hard on the marble floors, hitting his head against it. He gained a clear, unobstructed view of the ceiling, embers raining down on him from a glowing red wood and concrete that was nearly burned through completely making him realize it was only a matter of time before it collapsed. These fires were spreading quickly, most of the second and third floors were covered with them on account of his fighting with Tayuya.

Speaking of which, she was heading for him now, standing a flight above him with the machinegun and flame thrower combo in her hands. "You won't die will you!" She shouted in frustration, panting heavily after taking her share of damage in this fight. Her body armor was fairly weakened from Asuma's constant attacks and wasn't far from being useless.

"I could say the same." Asuma rolled abruptly to the side as a blast of flames concealing bullets streamed down on him. He evaded the heat, just barely able to keep rolling as Tayuya swept the combination across the ground in attempt to hit him. Asuma rolled on to his back and stopped, lifting the sub-machine guns and opening fire. A few of his shots hit the wooden railing surrounding the stairs, but a good number of them were on target, forcing Tayuya to flee down the stairs to evade.

Out of every fight taking place at the moment Asuma had to compete with the most dangerous conditions, even ahead of Gai's who'd nearly been blown up. The only light he had now that anything serving power to the building had been burned away was the hazy red of flames surrounding him. Black smoke poured upward against the ceiling and settled there, building up from lack of places for it to escape to hence the haziness. He could barely breathe nor see, and the heat was getting to him. "Tayuya...this fight can't keep going like this, just give up."

"Give up?" Tayuya looked around in the smoke, her only clue to his position was his voice, which she turned toward and sent out another blast of heated flames at. "Why don't you, you can't win."

Asuma dived to the side, just missing Tayuya's attack only to run into the wall which had long since been ablaze. Intense heat scorched him even from his distance, and to make things worse the wall had been burned through so thoroughly that it fell from the slightest impact. Asuma scrambled on to his feet and ran for his life, just making it in time as the concrete tumbled down and smashed against he marble floors with a thunderous roar.

Tayuya didn't hear anything after that... 'Did that do it? Is he dead?' Tayuya knelt down in an attempt to avoid as much smoke as she could, peering carefully though the black and red haze...

"I'm not there Baka!" Asuma came from behind, grabbed on to the back of Tayuya's head and slammed Tayuya's face to the ground, he stepped on her hand before she could lifted her weapon. Afterwords kicking it away and pressing one of the high rate guns against her head, but when he pulled the trigger nothing happened. 'Damnit! It's empty.' "Give up now and I promise I won't kill you." Asuma had no other choice but to offer it, hoping she didn't here the click of empty ammunition.

"Get off me asshole!" Tayuya reached up, grabbing on to Asuma's neck and pushing him forward, off of her back. She quickly pushed her self up, unable to help but cough when the burning ash saturated smoke became too much for her.

Once again they were lost to each other in the flames and smoke...A loud creaking sound came from above, followed by a loud slam when a concrete support beam fell from the ceiling engulfed in flames. It sent a rush of scolding air rushing over the both of them.

"You can't even breath." Asuma snorted, down on his hands and knees as he looked for Tayuya, also with his shirt drawn up over his mouth and nose. He really wished he had Kakashi's mask at the moment.

"You can't either dumbass." Tayuya yelled out angrily, bushing away an ember that landed on her hat.

"I've been smoking for years, I can handle a little smoke." Asuma was right, he could handle the smoke better then Tayuya, that didn't mean it wasn't effecting him in the same way. Anymore of this and he'd pass out from smoke inhalation.

Tayuya jumped over the burning pillar and charged at Asuma. Asuma reached up and caught her by the shoulder, then tossed her back in to the pillar, which she ended up crashing right through... Asuma was fairly confident that it was over after that, they'd been fighting in this smoke for who knew how long. '!' He heard Tayuya saying something, he wasn't sure it was directed at him but he did make out the words, "Curse Seal."

As if triggered by those same words, a burst of wind rushed outward, pushing smoke, debris and more importantly flames flying at Asuma. "!What is this!" Asuma lifted his arm up to his face and placed a leg back to keep from being blown away, trying his best block his vital areas though he couldn't help be hit by objects like chairs and tables. By the time the gust was over, a huge barricade was formed behind Asuma blocking what he previously didn't know was the front door. All it formed a burning wall blocking any and all exit. The ground around him was clear, only a scorched marble floor surrounded by a ring of fire pushed out by the gust.

He was trapped, just him and Tayuya. And Tayuya looked different, much different. Black chain like marks streaked up from across her left cheek, her arms carrying the same marks. "What did you just do?" Asuma lowered his arm slowly as he stared at her.

Tayuya smirked as she lifted her hands before her face, then clinched them into a tight fist. Fire streamed down from the burning ceiling and covered her hands and forearms, though they didn't appear to be burning her at all. "Don't worry about it, just know that when I'm pounding your ass to a charred, bloody pulp, that you drove me to it."

Asuma looked around him, the smoke was starting to make his surroundings hazy again, but he could still make out one thing, Tayuya's riffle/flamethrower laying discarded only a few feet to the left of him. Tossing aside his empty previous weapons, he immediately went for the still at least half full M4A1 machine gun. Coughing violently with every motion.

It be came clear to him that this wasn't so much as a fight against Tayuya as a race against time. He had to go through Tayuya and get out of here now, 5 minutes he'd be half passed out from smoke inhalation, or this burning ceiling would collapse and the whole precinct would fall in on them. 5 minutes!


	22. Chapter 22: The possibility of evil part

Chapter 22: The possibility of evil part 5

1958017

"Where not going to make it." Kakashi repetitiously counted off every second of the time in his head as they wondered around the interior of the ship. After a short period of time being in side of this ship everything started to look just like everything, the steel structured and reflective linoleum floors and walls, the doors that held the confusing numbering system, each hall, each light, each pipe, all of it was conspicuously similar. By himself he probably would have gotten lost already, but Zabuza seemed to have a general sense of direction in ships, leading them closer with each new path they took. They were making progress, but they weren't moving fast enough, it was taking too long...

"Time isn't up yet." Zabuza repeated, stopping to and look down the corridor they'd come across. It looking exactly the same as every other one they'd passed through, the same except for an elevator at the very end of the hall, resting opposite of a descending stairwell instead of another door or another hallway. "That's it." It had to be it.

Kakashi wasted no time running past the useless doors until he reached the stairs, they didn't have time for the elevator. He and Zabuza didn't bother going the long way, both of them just jumped over the railing, bypassing 2 flights of winding stairs and landed on the floor below.

They landed right in front of a pair of large steel doors marked with numbers and lines indicating unknown things, It stood at lest 10 feet and was almost just as long. "That's a big door, wonder why they would need so much space." Kakashi lifted the sniper riffle strapped to his back, quickly pulling out the magazine to make sure it was loaded. Then he slid it back into place, giving a quick aim and firing too shots directly in between the double doors. The high powered weapon easily broke through the baring lock that bound it closed. "This must be the place..."

Zabuza took a single step back to gain his footing and kicked open the steel doors, finding himself entering an extremely large room no less then 29ft tall and almost twice as wide. He walking on to a balcony, an upper level 15ft above that encompassed the room in it's entity, in the center there was a large, square hole surrounded by a railing. Over looking a larger area below it was filled with different shaped steel boxes, the cargo, equipment and large cylinder tanks that resembled water towers.

Kidomaru stood in the center of the cargo bay below the balcony, awaiting their arrival. "That's a shame, you made it _two seconds _too late, valiant effort though." Kidomaru jumped on to one of the steel crates, leaping up to a taller one, and made his way up to the balcony opposite of Kakashi and Zabuza.

"Who the are you?" Kakashi asked.

"You guys still haven't figured it out?" Kidomaru laughed mockingly. "You've been set up, I'm here to kill you. It's nothing personal, you keep getting into Orochimaru-sama's way, so this is a necessary endeavor ..." Kidomaru looked over the two men observingly, this is who he'd been charged to fight, he had to admit it was an interesting pair. "Well, Sharingan Kakashi and The Devil Zabuza, how'd I get stuck with you two... Let's get this over with, I guess it's time we got this game started..." Kidomaru leaned over the balcony's railing and smirked when he heard the doors below opening.

Kakashi and Zabuza glanced at each other with silent glances, it wasn't particularly hard to figure out what the other was thinking since generally they both thought the same things... only in very different ways. "I don't like playing games, let's get strait to the point." Zabuza reach behind him and drew two black colored grenade from their place attached to his waist, he pulled the pins off of both of them and tossed the two items over the balcony on to the lower levels where the Sound Soldiers were pouring into the room, just as Kidomaru promised. With his usual fearlessness Zabuza dived over the railing to the cargo room below, just as the grenades exploded and a thick cloud of gray smoke rose from the benighted and swallowed the whole room. Those had been smoke bombs, he must have been curious of the cargo if he didn't want to risk destroying it by using real grenades.

They were very effective smoke bombs since the gray fog quickly covered everything, including the balcony where Kakashi and Kidomaru still resided. "That's cheating." Kidomaru yelled in aggravation, drawing a sniper riffle similar to Kakashi's that had been strapped to his back. "Doesn't matter, It'll make the game that much more fun." Kidomaru moved quietly and blindly across the steel platform, taking silent steps in the haze until he deemed he'd gone far enough away from where he had been he knelt down and lifted the scope of the riffle to his left eye. 'Alright Kakashi... where are you?'

A random shot came at him seemingly out of nowhere, gracing past his left arm. Kidomaru winced but with missing a single second his eyes immediately followed the small trail left behind from the bullet projecting itself through the smoke. Most couldn't see it let alone trace the trail before it closed up but Kidomaru, with all his accuracy and years of devoted skill could do it easily. He fired a return shot, '!' He flinched at the the loud noise that came from his gun when he did, he'd just made a very critical mistake.

Kakashi, alerted by the sound, dropped down to the ground just in time to evade the shot, feeling the heat of it as it grazed the side of his cheek.

'Geez, I can't believe I forgot to put on the silencer.' Kidomaru laid flat on his stomach while he reached into a pouch on his side, shuffling quickly around until he found a black tube and attached it to the barrel. 'Bastard almost got me.'

'Damnit Zabuza, how am I suppose to find him in this.' Kakashi waited silently in the haze that allowed no visibility beyond his hands, trying to track someone as stealthy as Kidomaru when gunfire was blazing below him because of Zabuza's fighting was nearly impossible. Well, then Kakashi would have to make Kidomaru reveal his own position... "!" Kakashi bit down on his lip to keep himself from making a sound when he felt a bullet come dangerously close to his cheek for the second time. Which meant that Kidomaru knew where he was.

Kakashi quickly took a few crouched steps to the left, it was just the type of hint he was waiting for. Judging from the angle of the shot and which direction the bullet was heading... 'Perfect. But I need to be sure...' If he wasn't sure he could give his own position away by firing unnecessary shots. He again lifted the riffle, took aim at where he estimated his target was, and fired one strategically placed shot far above it into a chain hanging from the ceiling. Part of it snapped and broke off, causing it fall noisily to the ground and draw the attention of Kidomaru...

'I got him now.' Kidomaru smirked victoriously, firing three contentious shots in the direction of the sound. He was sure that he'd got him... "It's over Kakashi!" he called out in a cocky manner, placing his back against the wall with his eye sill pressed against the scope of his lifted riffle.

The haze of smoke started to clear away, just in time for Kidomaru to see... that he hadn't hit anything at all, he didn't even see Kakashi anymore, 'Damn...' and at that moment he knew it was over. "Hmm...you guys are good."

Kakashi pressed the barrel of the gun against Kidomaru's head, standing over him. "Game over. Don't move or-"

Kidomaru rolled his eyes."Yeah Yeah, you'll blow my head off." Kidomaru glanced over the balcony's railing to the cargo room below with the inquisition of why there was no more sounds of fighting. Maybe they'd killed Zabuza, if they did that then it was only a matter of time before- 'Oh...' He found 30 men laying dead scatted across the ground, Zabuza sitting carelessly on one of the steel crates, one leg drawn up while the other hung down lazily, tossing a knife smeared with blood casually up into the air while resting the shotgun against his shoulder. 'Holy Crap, he just killed all of those guys by himself...' That's when he realized why the called him Zabuza the devil. "So why haven't you done it yet?"

"First, why do you want us dead?" Kakashi asked.

No wonder he was still alive, Kakashi wanted awnsers. "I told you already, it's simple, you guys keep getting in Orochimaru-sama's way." Kidomaru couldn't help thinking how unbelievably fast he was beaten, he really need to work on somethings ...or... use the Curse seal...no, he couldn't do that now, as soon as Kakashi saw the mutation starting... he'd just have to wait. "He wants you dead, I can't believe you guys haven't figure it out yet. It really doesn't speak well of your intelligence."

"Watch it." Kakashi warned firmly. "What didn't we figure out?"

"Everything!" Kidomaru had to restrain himself from just yelling out every detail, he was so sick of watching them struggle to figure this whole thing out. "The fake police offices we planted in KPD _years_ ago, the dead signals and phone lines, complete radio silence was done just to get to lure you guys in and make sure you were the only one's who showed up." Kidomaru said casually "You have no idea how tediously annoying it was to plan every single detail down to charting who would be doing what and when. And it worked, all of you guys are right where your supposed to be, hell, the rest of them are probably dead by now."

"How could you possibly know how each of us would respond?" Zabuza didn't think it was possible for someone to set a trap this thoroughly, one so carefully thought out to the point where they knew every reaction he would make. "How?" He made sure that Kidomaru was keenly aware of the knife he was holding when he asked, since when giving out this type of information he may have started to get uncooperative.

"Man you guys are idiots, were you not listening to me? How do you think we did it, we had to study each and every one of you." Kidomaru grunted, showing every bit of his frustration and annoyance at the tasks he had to preform. "For instance, Zabuza wouldn't have normally come here on his own. There are more places in Konoha that Orochimaru would have likely been since he's obviously in town. But since he knew Kakashi would want to know about something like this... long story short, your here now."

Kakashi and Zabuza gave each other another wordless glance, both sharing a feeling that something couldn't be right here, with all of the planing that went into Orochimaru's project there was no doubt they were still being set up. "Then what were you going out of your way to steel? What is all this stuff?"

"This ship's only purpose wasn't just to get at you guys. Come on, all of Konoha's in radio silence, the police are in complete confusion and it's a freakin' blizzard outside. Who's gonna stop me? I mean come on, did you ever stop to think that all of these things were tied into something larger?" Kidomaru blurted out. Then he smiled oddly "I don't really need to tell you what this stuff is, you won't be alive much longer."

"What? You think _your_ going to kill us?" Zabuza found the thought of it was a little amusing. "Not in your current position."

"In 10 minutes this ship will be intercepted by 2 Sound naval carrier ships, they're gonna transfer the cargo and blow this tanker to hell. Even if you do manage to get past the rest of the crew and take over the ship, there's no way you can get this thing back to Konoha before your intercepted." Kidomaru looked up at Kakashi in particular when he said that. "It's really impressive that you can take out 30 men this easily, I'll admit, but what about 300? Did you really think that was all the people I took with me?"

Kakashi shook his head with denial. "That's impossible. We would have noticed them on our way here!"

Kidomaru realized that he'd just found his opportunity. "Heh heh, you should know by now that things aren't always what they appear. If you haven't figured that out by now then what happens next will really be a surprise. Oh and one more thing, do you really think I would let the game be over that quickly?" Kidomaru sent a swift punch up into Kakashi's arm, hard enough to force the man to drop the gun, Then with out a moments hesitation he took the opportunity to get to his feet and dive head first over the railing and off of the balcony. "Were would the challenge be in that?" It seemed like he was going to be intercepted by Zabuza but he pressed a button on a strap on his wrist causing the cage to a ventilation shaft to fall from the ceiling and a cord to drop down before he got close. Kidomaru grabbed on to it and was immediately reeled up...

Yep, they were still being set up.

And he should have seen something like this coming. "Damnit!" Kakashi growled in anger as he punched the steel wall as hard as he could, pounding his fist into the steel repeatedly "I should have seen this coming."

_Beep, Beep, Beep_

'?' Zabuza reached down to his waist and retrieved a radar holstered there. It was working now?... No, it was something else."Shit!"

"What? What is it?" Kakashi knelt down and picked up his discarded weapon, then he jumped over the balcony's railing and landed in front of Zabuza.

"An alarm, I put motion detectors in all of the paths we took to get here." Zabuza didn't have any types of markers so he used them instead, something he could afford to expend. "Kidomaru wasn't lying, a very large number of what has to be sound solders are coming this way. That brat , he sent every one of them after us..." Zabuza lifted his head... he could hear them from here, it a distinct rumbling sound was faint but growing stronger and coming through the walls and the ceiling from all sides... "They're everywhere."

Kakashi lifted his head forehead in annoyment, he felt a headache coming on. "How do we get out of this one?"

...This wasn't completely hopeless, he was getting an idea...

It came to both of them at t he same time, Kakashi and Zabuza called out "I have a plan." in an odd unison.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, because it's going to sound really bad if your not." Kakashi joked in his usual manner. "You still have those bombs planted on the ship's hull-"

"And since there's no way a ship this large will be able to even turn around completely before we're intercepted-" Zabuza added.

"I climb out of here through the vent and since only one of us will be able to go through anyway-"

Zabuza nodded. "I stay behind and detonate the bomb, that'll take care of the Sound's men and Kidomaru... if we're lucky. Konoha doesn't get this stuff back but the Sound doesn't get it either." Speaking of which, out of curiosity Zabuza climbed off of the crate he was sitting on and preyed it opened ... "What the hell is this stuff?"

It was packed with a large capsule surrounded by Styrofoam, the capsule was filled with green fluid 'Why would they want this?', it didn't matter now, the only thing that did was the plan, it was their only chance. "I saw flood gates on the way down here, if you close them this ship wont sink immediately. I'll give it 6 minutes at the most. So while this thing is going down, you get us a boat."

"I'll fight off Kidomaru and whoever else is there, I'm sure there's a life boat or something. You focus on getting back to the deck. Then we get out of here." Kakashi finished with a deep breath, almost a sigh of relief, then he looked up at the ceiling where Kidomaru had escaped from. "This sounds like a really bad plan, you think we'll make it out of here alive?"

Zabuza shook his head. "No." he replied without even the slightest change in his voice.

"Now that we have that established." Kakashi strapped the sniper riffle on to his back and gave his full attention to the open vent residing on the ceiling "Give me a boost."

"How the hell am I suppose to get you all the way up there?"

! - ! - !

Lee and Shikamaru gave each other a quick, reassuring nod as if to be sure of their course of action, then both of them charged at Jiroubou. Shikamaru crouched lightly and swept his foot across the ground with a hard kick into Jiroubou's legs while Lee jumped up and thrust an even harder kick into Jiroubou's head.

It was reminiscent of attacking a brick wall.

"Heh, it's over for you." Jiroubou caught Lee's leg before he could pull it back and then reached down to seize Shikamaru by the foot. Jiroubou held them up painfully, completely ignoring the struggling and blows thrown at him in an attempt to escape. Then threw the both of them, watching their helpless bodies fly through the living room's entrance and burst through the kitchen wall a considerable distance away, falling into the back yard.

Lee hit the snow covered ground on his back and slid to a stop, Shikamaru on his stomach. "Oww." Lee lifted his head from the snow it had been halfway buried in and studied the trail of destruction that had been left behind, there where so many rather large holes in the large house that he didn't know how it stayed standing. "I...I think he broke something." He had to yell over the howling winds blowing a heavy torrent of snow in to his back.

Shikamaru lifted his head and spit out the snow that made it's way into his mouth, shaking the white flakes out of his hair that coated the black strands completely. He could barely see anything, and what he could see was a blur in the white haze, the snow was falling so hard and in such a thick volume that visibility was only a few feet at the most. "Are you alright?"

"Sure, the cold already made me numb." He joked as he tried to sit up, only to find the part of him that had felt like had been broken was his back. '!' He crashed back down into the snow, grimacing at the pain flooding his senses. "Ow... Ok, he's way too strong. I guess neither of us has a choice." With a visible wince Lee rolled over on to his stomach, then with as little movement of his back as possible, he reached into the small pouch on his waist and removed a small glass capsule containing the same plant from before still rooted in the same soil. He was thankful that it was still alright during such a hard fight, Lee held it out in front of him as far as his arms could reach and lifted the glass casing. Then he slowly slid the pant with his right hand and on to his left.

Just as before the roots took on a life of their own, like snakes they begin to work their way under his bandages and embedded themselves painfully into his palm, '!...!...!' some how managing to find the same half healed wounds they created.

"Yeah, I guess so." Shikamaru forced himself to stand in the ankle deep snow, and block out the contentious thought of how cold he was so he could concentrate. 'Snow is so troublesome...' He closed his eyes and stood silently, draw out his Chakra with years of practice that made the action almost inane, and the most definitely inane reaction came about which in turn made his left arm start to hurt again. '...'

He wasn't completely sure what about this process caused him to be in pain, or why it had the effect it had, but all he knew was that he'd have to use it to his advantage if he wanted to win this fight. So he kept drawing on his Chakra, increasing the throbbing pain with each second ... "If we do it right, then we can get this over with quickly." He needed to get this over with quickly, he was sure he'd pass out if he didn't.

Jiroubou finally climbed out of the hole in the back of the house, leaving behind the sound of gunfire as Naruto and Sasuke fought against the 10 sound soldiers in KPD uniforms. "Give up now, Orochimaru needs you in one piece and I'd rather have it that way." Jiroubou told Shikamaru, his voice leaving behind no doubt of his intentions. "It would be a shame if I had to kill you."

"Your forgetting that he's not the only one here." Lee would have shouted if he could conger the strength, there was no way in hell he'd let himself just be written off like that. Though it was hard to sound threatening when he laying on the round and couldn't get up. "I'll show you."He lifted two fingers on his right hand and pressed horizontally against the small sapling blowing in the cold wind. From the outside nothing looked as if it was happening.

"You don't concern me." Jiroubou didn't even bother to take a second look at the boy, which only served to make Lee angry. "I don't need to waste my time with someone as useless and weak as you, he's the source of Chakra that I need."

"Useless." Lee glared at the man angrily, the generally impulsive part of him made his anger even worse. The plant was really helping now, he didn't even feel the pain now, he wasn't even sure if it was still there at all. With out that inhibiting him he easily stood to his feet and turned toward the large man. "I'll show you how useless and weak I am..." Lee outstretched the plant in his left land while he clinched his right into a fist and thrust it forward at the air in a punch with no target. Out from the ground shot up a rather thick tree root that buckled and was thrust to the surface below Jiroubou, it lashed painfully against his lower body back and knocked him in to the air.

"!" As unexpectant as he was of Lee's attack he still managed to recover himself and land on the roof of the Uchiha mansion...

Lee glanced back at his teammate who he'd seen hadn't take any recent action. "Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru was struggling to stay standing, his face contorted in pain as he clinched his right bicep tightly. He didn't even hear Lee's voice, maybe this was a bad idea... Shikamaru opened one eye and looked down at his right arm, he felt that throbbing pain fade away strangely into an unexplained numbness. It felt like dead weight, like he didn't even have an arm, it seemed to listen to him when he forced it to move but other then that it was like it was missing completely. 'What is this...' His Chakra was visible, flowing out of him in a pitch black aura that swallowed all light near it, and oddly enough his right arm was the same color. "!" Shikamaru lifted his arm with natural alarm, it was completely covered shadow, shadow that didn't fade when he attempted to rub it away. "How...?"

"Shikamaru look out!"

Shikamaru was so busy trying to figure out what had just happened that he became unaware of what was going on around him, he looked up just in time to see Jiroubou coming at him from above, in fact he was already too close for him to avoid. His body involuntarily flinched and lifted both arms to block... but the attack didn't come."Huh?" Shikamaru lowered his conflictingly shaded arms and was surprised to find Jiroubou entangled in a mass of extremely long grass that sprouted from the ground.

"What the hell is this!" Jiroubou looked down at his captor in alarm, he hadn't expected to come against anything like this.

"How useless am I now?" Lee uttered confidently with a small sense of pride in his voice. He had some how stimulated and accelerated the growth of that grass in that area, then even manipulated it to catch Jiroubou and constrict him painfully. But his strength in this type of attack was no longer adequate to damage Jiroubou when in Curse seal level, but he was leaving a wide opening for Shikamaru... "Shikamaru! Now!"

With no idea of what he was doing, Shikamaru went purely on instinct and what his previous level of control over shadows allowed him to. He outstretched his now completely black right hand and concentrated on drawing in the surrounding darkness, with the intent of doing his Shadow mimic technique, but he found that his control was higher then he expected and instead of drawing it in, he was actually creating it... he could feel it even before he saw it... 'How did this happen, it doesn't even hurt anymore... maybe that's why I'm able to do this.' The shadows began to form around the person he was looking at, who happened to be Jiroubou, drifting up the other man's body like rising floodwaters.

Jiroubou growled in pain when he felt darkness forming over him, it wasn't a destructive force, instead it was oppressive, it was constricting, very constricting. An amazingly obstructive force. 'How are a bunch of kids able to do this!' Jiroubou pushed outward with all his strength and after a few idle seconds he was able to rip through the plants holding him in place and break out of Shikamaru's attack, making the shadows fall back like mice scurrying out of sight. "What are you two."

"We could ask you the same thing." Shikamaru was clearly indicating Jiroubou's transformation resulting from activation of the curse seal when he said this.

"Uh, is it just me or is the snow getting worse?" Lee, who could barely be seen by anyone now on account of the increasing snow fall, was starting to worry about his own well being as well as his plant's. How cold do you have to be to officially have hypothermia? He'd only been outside for about at minute and he was already asking that question.

"Damn." Jiroubou lifted his arm over his eyes in an attempt to shield some of the wind, things had gone bad fairly quickly. He couldn't see his target any more, and he hadn't had any idea he'd becoming up against these types of enemies when he started this mission. It wasn't a good idea to go into a fight with out any information about your opponents, especially ones these dangerous. He had no choice but to retreat and try again later. "Next time..."

They waited a few more seconds, not hearing any talking or movement.

"Did he just leave?" Lee asked.

Shikamaru nodded though he knew Lee couldn't see, "Yeah, he's gone... We should get back." With just his general sense of direction, Shikamaru made his way blindly towards where he hoped inside would be. He couldn't see it until the hole in the wall was sitting right in front of his face. He couldn't see Lee either. "Lee, where are you?"

"Right here." Lee stumbled his way into the hole in the living room after some how managing to get to the other side of the house.

They entered to a quiet atmosphere, surreal of the fighting that filled the air when they left. The floor covered in fallen Sound solders wearing KPD in uniforms numbering quite a few more then the 10 they first thought were. Naruto was leaning against the wall, clinching his chest with one arm and draped on to the Glatting gun he took from Jiroubou as a crutch. "Are you alright?" Lee ran up to him, looking over the smaller body with worry.

Naruto gave a victorious smirk, attempting to catch his breath and steady his heartbeat. "I'll be fine." He laughed lightly as he patted the one of barrels of the large gun. "I don't care what Sasuke says, I'm keeping this thing."

! - ! - !

Sakon sighed with his own growing annoyment, placing one foot back to keep his stance on the icy pavement. "Your a weird one. I won't have to deal with you too much longer."

Gai charged at Sakon in a furry of anger, the handle and trigger of the M50 rocket launcher clinched tightly in his hand over his shoulder. "Sakon!"

"Idiot." Sakon outstretched his arms at his sides, causing the hum of machinery on his back to grow even louder... then a golden flash came just as Gai was about to attack.

"What!" Gai staggered back a few steps, rubbing his eyes in the hopes of speeding up the return of his vision, "What did you just do?"

Sakon smirked. "Look around you."

Gai paused and reassessed his surroundings per Sakon's suggestion '...?' He was surrounded in a 5ft radius by an bright golden electrical field just barely visible, all centered around Sakon, "What is this?" Gai called out, his anger suspended for questioning. An oddly smiling Sakon took a few steeps back... and Gai felt a strong surge of electricity rushed through his body as the field was pulled forward with Sakon and crashed into his back. "Urraaaaaaaa!"

Sakon watched as Gai fell to his knees before him, gasping heavily. "You and I are trapped together by this field, no one can get in and you can't get out."

'It's too close to use this then.' Gai tossed aside the rocket launcher, noticing it easily passed through the field with out incident, then climbed to his feet. His back was smoldering. 'Is he serious...' "Fine, I'll just have to beat you by hand."

Which was unfortunate for Sakon since Gai was an expert in Taijutsu, and Sakon was banking this whole fight on his own fighting skills.

"I'd like to see you try!" Sakon closed the gap between them with a quick jump, with one fluid motion he landed and dropped to one knee, then threw a punch at Gai's stomach. Gai caught him by the fist with swift reflexes, gave a sharp kick to the man's chest and sent him sprawling backwards to the ground. Sakon pulled the 5 foot radius field forward was he fell backwards, making it crash into Gai's back for the second time and sent a strong surge of electricity coursing through his body.

"Ahhhaaa!" Gai stumbled forward away from it while Sakon climbed to his feet, seeing that Gai was still recovering, Sakon kicked Gai in the stomach. Gai placed one foot backwards and caught himself, shaking his head lightly to regain his senses then lunged forward. He was easily quick enough to wrap his arm around Sakon's waist before the other man could do anything about it and used the hold to lift him in the air. Then he slammed him forcefully on the ground and punched him furiously and repeatedly.

10 or so blows were forced upon him before Sakon was finally able to pull his knees up under Gai's torso and kick him off, throwing him dangerously close to the shield. "I don't have time for this.." Sakon rolled back and flipped on to his feet while Gai scrambled to follow his motions and get clear, with patience thinning, Sakon closed in the shield in another 12 inches unexpected to Gai.

"!" It crashed into his back again, making him cry out loudly and stumble forward. By that time Sakon was waiting right there, he grabbed Gai by the back of his neck and pulled him toward the field on the opposite side.

"No!" Gai placed one foot forward and stopped himself just a few inches away from the sparking golden wall, then he thrust his elbow back into Sakon's face. 'I have to get that field down...' Gai sent a swift kick back into Sakon's chest, then turned and ceased his arms. 'The curse seal must be letting him use whatever was on that back to putout this field, so how do I stop it?'

Sakon tried to pry himself free but Gai's grip was too strong, "Let go you son of a bitch!"

"You. Wreaked. My. **Car**!" Gai shouted in his rare impulsive furry, driving down a knee to the man's stomach hard enough to force blood out of his mouth and a sharp headbutt that undoubtedly broke his noise. Then he lifted the half disoriented Sakon by his arms, slamming and pinned him to the ground.

'How is this guy that strong?' Sakon, unable to move his arms and with out the flexibility to do anything useful with his legs, had no choice but to close in the field even more. By the time he was done there wasn't inch between Gai and the golden energy.

"UHhaaaaaaaa!" Gai screamed in pain, feeling every volt of the energy taring through his body. He felt as if there was a fire inside of him, setting his muscles and organs ablaze and scorching him from the inside out. But the pain only made him hold on tighter. 'I...can't... let go...' If he could hold on to Sakon while he was being electrocuted, then he could shock Sakon too and send some feedback to the machine on his back... It didn't seem to be working as well as he hoped, but at least Sakon was in the same situation. "Drop...the field...or...I'll...take you...out with me!" Gai managed to force out.

"Let go!" Sakon shouted in his own deal of pain.

"No!"

"Get off me you bastard!"

"N-No!"

"Let go you son of a bitch."

"Make me!"

Gai was right, he would have to drop it, Gai wouldn't let go for anything and Sakon, smart.

"Drop it!"

"Ahhaaaaa!"

"Drop it!"

'Damnit!' Unable to handle anymore, Sakon finally dropped the field and with out a seconds delay Gai rolled off of him, leaving the both of them laying weakly on the ground, smoldering, feeling as if they had just been set on fire, in fact Gai's shoulder was on fire. "!" He quickly patted it out, though that half unnatural panic that drove him to do it seem to expel most of his strength. 'Damn, that took a lot out of me...'

His current state of weakness allowed Gai noticed that, how ever less it might have been, Sakon wasn't as out of it as he was. Maybe because he only got electrocuted once. 'I have to find away to get rid of this-' And that's when he saw it, out of the corner of his eye, he'd completely forgotten about it, his rocket launcher!

Though it was only 12 feet away it seemed so, so unimpeachably far away.

Gai rolled on to his stomach, hissing in pain as his burning hot torso met the freezing ground. He reached out with both arms and pulled himself toward it desperately, looking back every so at Sakon, who was still recovering. 'Damn!' Gai moved faster, as fast as he could mange to go.

"Your going to pay for that!" Sakon said angrily, shaking his head in an attempt to stop the deafening ring in his ears. "Meito Gai!" Sakon glanced to his side where the man had rolled off, he wasn't there.

_Click. _

The small sound made him flinch... that sounded like... he look over his shoulder anxiously. Gai was laying on his back a few feet away, still smoldering, with his head tilted just enough to get the other man in view and his eye pressed against the scope of the rocket launcher mounted on his shoulder. 'Oh fuck!'

"It's over!" Gai pulled the trigger and sent a missile projecting out of the barrel in flare of bright flames propelling it and a white stream of smoke, heading right at Sakon. Sakon lifted his hands with his eyes widened in fear and once again raised the electric field, this time to full power. The barrier spread outward about 10 feet before it intercepted the missile with a powerful explosion. It was like watching a monster that move so fast that it came in a blink of an eye, flames rushed out from the impact and swallowed them in the red haze, the force scent Gai flying back into his car parked only a few feet away from where he was but Sakon took the blunt of the blast, enough to send his helpless body over the guard railing and off bridge.

It was over finally.

"That didn't work out as well as I hoped." Gai sighed weakly, nosily letting the rocket launcher roll off his shoulder and crash to the ground with a loud clank. 'Now how am I going to get out of here..' He could barely move, let alone drive a stalled car...

Gai fell on to his side and began crawled over towards he end of the car, sliding along the slick asphalt that both helped and hindered him. It seemed like an eternity before he reached the rear of the car, he reached up and grabbed the bumper, using it to pull himself up to the knees, then he withdrew his keys from his pockets, unlocked the trunk and opened it. This was hard, really hard. Even his key felt infinitely heaver then it should have, every movement made his singed muscles scream in pain.

Grunting heavily he dug around blindly in the snowy haze for something. His vision was blurring on top of that ... "Uha..." he couldn't pass out now, he wouldn't let himself... With a small groan he pulled a red tool box along the bottom of the trunk until it went over the edge and fell nosily to the ground, 'I can't pass out now... not yet...'

! - ! - !

"Well I see you have the curse Seal." Asuma knelt down low, pulling his shirt over his nose in an attempt to evade and filter some of the smoke in the air. He was sealed in with Tayuya, and the one thing they desperately needed right now was ventilation. "Your arms are fire resistant, but what about the rest of your body?" He inquired curiously.

She didn't bother acknowledging his question."I'm going to enjoy killing your sorry ass!" Tayuya drew her inflamed fist back and ran forward. Asuma, who was starting to be heavily effected by the smoke, wasn't interested in continuing this fight. One of them would pass out...both of them would pass out before the it was finished. Asuma dived to the side, evading her attack, and rolled across the cleared area of the marble floors. Then he rolled to the side to avoid a wooden support that fell from the ceiling hard enough to shake the entire building..

Which made him realize something dangerous. 'This whole place is coming down... the hell with this!' With a sense of urgency, Asuma took the flamethrower equipped riffle and climbed to his feet. Then he pointed up toward the ceiling and started firing at the already weak structure, speeding up the inevitable.

"Hey, Come-" Tayuya went after him, or tried to at lest, she would have if not rain of burning tiles and wood started to fall heavily from the ceiling, the whole building started to shake violently. "Oh shit!"

With his will to live taking priority over his will to fight, Asuma ran towards the ascending stairs hoping to make it out of a window on the second floor, and then to have those hopes fade when the stairs started to crumble. And to make matters even worse the whole ceiling collapsed over them and a burning mass unrecognizable wreckage was sent tumbling down on to this floor in a mass of flames. '!' Asuma quickly slid to a stop, turned around and ran in the opposite direction, the ceiling falling through as the second floor dropped to the first in a cascading manner that chased after him.

Asuma had no choice but to keep going and face a wall of burning debris separating the lobby in the hallway. 'Try and breakthrough or be crushed...I have no choice.' With the loud rumbling blaring in his ears so loudly that he could barely hear himself think, Asuma took a step back, so close that he could feel the heat from the crumbling building at his back. Then charged forward, lifting his arms to his head and diving forward into the burning wall. It hurt, a lot, his body smashed though the wall of debris and tumbled down to the ground on the other side in a mass of it. "!"

Asuma scrambled to his feet, his back on fire and his arms smoldering as he did so. He was just ahead of cascading roof, so close that he was hit a few times by debris that ricochet when the hit the ground. That was one among some of his many problems at the moment, the most prominent one was that he was starting to become hazy from the smoke inhalation and the only thing keeping him awake was the fire burning and his will to live. 'I'm all most there!' He was almost there, he could see a window at the end of the marble lined hall just before his vision began to blur and his head started to spin with dizziness... Asuma lifted the gun he'd seized from Tayuya and opened fire on the window up ahead, or tried too, it was out of ammo.

"Damnit!" Asuma glanced over his shoulder, he was out of time, he couldn't run fast enough, a few more seconds and it would take him over...Asuma pulled the second trigger and unleashed a blast of flames from the second barrel, the blast smashed through the window and with out a seconds delay he dived forward, gaining a small boost of speed that propelled him out out of the empty frame just in time...since the KPD was built strangely, the first floor was two stories high, that fact made Asuma's fall to the ground that much more painful.

But on the bright side, the snow and the ragging blizzard did put out the fire on his back.

He hadn't noticed it, he passed out as soon as he hit the ground.

! - !- !

Kabuto and Iruka naturally parted, drifting away from each other before they hit the ground in separate places, landing among the sea of telephone wires streaming outward like a river from the side of the building. Neither one of them crashed into any, luckily able to avoid any of the towers, but that may have been even worse since it was a strait drop to the thankfully snow covered ground.

Iruka landed on his back, throwing a mist of snow into the air on impact. His back throbbed with an aching pain and his head seemed to pound with a pain at lest 10 times worse. "Ow..." Iruka immediately lifted his hand to the back of his head head and rubbed the injured spot soothingly. 'Where did that explosion come from?' Though that did hurt, a lot, he was fairly aright, he could even stand.

Iruka slowly climbed to his feet, it was much easier for him once he was actually standing, he was sure to be careful not to touch any of the towers that were bound to the wires since they could have been and probably were electrified. "Kabuto..."

"Right here."

Iruka flinched at the unexpected voice and quickly turned around, finding himself face to face with Kabuto, a slightly different Kabuto. He could see black chain like markings under his collar, those weren't there before... "Let me guess, this is what you meant before." Despite the anger pulsing through him, he was starting to get nervous, how could Kabuto get behind him so quickly when they hadn't even landed near each other.

"You noticed, I expected you would." Kabuto nodded, "It's the curse seal, I'm sure you remember it."

Iruka looked at him with slight questioning for a moment, what was Kabuto talking about- "You! That's what you put in me! That what you used to manipulate me!"

Kabuto nodded again. "That's right, I'm surprised you remembered." Kabuto adjusted his glasses with a soft push from his index finger, speaking proudly when he talked about his invention. "With one press of a button I could-"

"Kill me?"

"I I'm sorry to admit I couldn't do that much, If I did the process would take much too long. But I could make it considerably harder for you to move...to breathe...to think--"

Iruka narrowed his eyes dangerously, was he being set up? "And why didn't you?"

"Heh, where would the fun be in fighting you that way?" Kabuto barely finished speaking before he moved forward, so fast that Iruka couldn't even see him until he felt a strong punch drive in his chest.

"!" "Uhhggaaa!" Iruka was sent flying backwards, sailing down the neat row of steel towers, crashing painfully into a brick wall at the end of the lot hard enough to leave an imprint were he'd stuck it..

'...' "W-what...what was that!' Iruka dropped to his knees, clinching his chest we're he'd been struck. He coughed, spewing a small amount of blood from some internal bleeding no doubt in that area. But he pushed aside the pain and wiped his mouth,. by the time he looked up Kabuto was standing over him, causing him to flinch.

Kabuto grabbed him by the neck, lifting him off the ground with one hand and pressed him against the wall.. "I'll give you a deal, give up." Kabuto said playfully, listening to the weak and strangled coughs and cries coming from the other man. "And I'll let you live."

"I'm flattered..." He snorted weakly, pausing to take in starved gasped in the hopes of getting the cold air past the constriction around his neck. Even that weak he managed to show every bit of his anger. "If living means giving up to you, I'd rather die!" Iruka yelled.

"Passionate as always." Kabuto gave him one seemingly gentle push that sent Iruka's body through the wall and tumbling in to a parking lot with the broken bricks that used to form a barrier.

The man hit the ground and his head fell to the ground, struggling as hard as he could to catch his breath he managed to catch a glimpse of something particularly interesting parked behind him. Kabuto's jet, and it was still running.

Iruka rolled onto his stomach and crawled on to his knees, force to pause until he could get enough air to continue. "You had to pull something like this just to beat me." He said weakly, stumbling on to his feet. He could barely see with the wind and snow blowing directly into his face. "I guess Konoha isn't so weak after all." Iruka punched Kabuto across the face as hard as he could. Kabuto didn't waver an inch under the blow, instead he sent another untraceably quick punch into Iruka's torso and launched him into the air, before the man could rise to high or even cry out Kabuto gave him a swift kick to the torso, throwing Iruka another 10 feet before he hit the ground.

'He's too strong...' Iruka found his mind inconceivability repeating that thought right before his body crashed into the same plane he'd just looked at only a few seconds earlier, landing right above the wing and sliding down on to it's surface in a painful change of events... Things were looking pretty hopeless right about now. 'He's got me...there's no way I can win." Iruka coughed up some more blood, spitting out the red liquid and let his head fall back weakly against the steel surface ...just enough to something to come into his eye's view, something reflective that cast a glare, something in the cockpit. He immediately recognized it. And his chances of wining just went. "Heh heh..."

Iruka, with all the strength he could force himself to put out, climbed to his feet and grabbed on to the edge of the open cockpit and pulled. He lost his balance halfway through and tumbled into it rather painfully but it didn't matter, he had it in his hands now.

Kabuto looked up at his already running ship, smirking lightly when he saw the other man attempting to enter his plane, he should have know there was no way he'd be able to use it. "If your thinking about using it against me don't bother, you don't have the lock code, you won't get anywhere."

Iruka stood up, a large silver gun in hand, it looked as if it was an over sized rifle. The back of it had to be carried under his arm, the battery, and the barrier was nearly squared and forked so it looked almost like a mouth, a small and steady stream of electricity sparked between the two parts. It was a very distinct weapon, it was Kabuto's Rail gun, one that had been used against him twice so he knew just how powerful it was. He wasn't completely sure how it worked, or what the screen just above the barrel was showing him, the only thing he knew at the moment was to pull the trigger. "I wasn't running!"

"!"

He tried to evade, diving to the side desperately as if his life depended on it, it probably did. But he wasn't nearly fast, Iruka pulled the trigger and a streak of blue electricity streamed like lighting from stormy clouds. There was no way he was faster then that even if in lv 2 curse seal, the beam struck him directly in the chest and a static stream of flickering electricity coursed through his body with immense force. Kabuto was thrown a good distance and slid a few feet after he crashed, sprawling onto the ground. He felt his stomach kindling a dieing flame, smoldering with thick black smoke. His curse seal immediately reverted back to it's normal state, it couldn't hold up to that type of damage.

Iruka didn't expect the feedback the weapon would have to it, it was so strong that he was thrown backwards out of the cockpit, his balance wasn't great as it was. "Uff!" He landed in the snow a short distance away, still with a tight grip on the weapon as if it would some how protect him with out any of his own intervention, he was to tired too move an inch anyway.

Kabuto was in a bad state himself, with the last electricity coursing through him in an attempt to get to the ground he couldn't even move. For what seemed like a small eternity he'd gone blind, his vision had faded into nothing but white, and the ringing in his ears over powered any thoughts he had. By the time he regained his senses he realized what had just happened to him, there was no way he could keep fighting, he had to get out of here. 'He actually hit me... dammit.' With his legs trembling slightly, Kabuto pushed himself on to his feet.

'?' Iruka looked up when he heard the engine of Kabuto's jet flare and a burst of warm air sent a wave of snow washing over him. By the time he wiped the snow off of his face the airship had ascended hopelessly out of reach.

"Next time Iruka!"

'I hope not...'


	23. Chapter 23: Aftermath

Chapter 23: Aftermath

Konohamaru's mind completely shut off, his world, his mind, his vision faded away into a white blur, all of his self control relinquished it self to his rage. "YOU BASTARD!" Konohamaru lunged at Orochimaru, attacking any way he could.

"Brat." Orochimaru snorted, as if Konohamaru was just an unnecessary annoyance that he didn't want to deal with. He moved with years of skill, easily evading every punch, kick or attempt to lay a hand on him Konohamaru tried to land.

That only fueled Konohamaru's rage, the boy growled furiously and continued to dive at him with everything he had. '...' Orochimaru lifted his foot and sent a sharp kick into Konohamaru's chest, knocking the boy into a wall. He wasn't concerned about Konohamaru, he was more worried about what his grandfather had done. 'My arms...what the hell did he do to me!'

Konohamaru slid almost lifelessly to the floor, having the air forced out of his lungs and a pulsing pain left behind in his chest. He didn't care, he gasped for air and stumbled on to his feet, running toward the man with full speed despite his lack of air. "...damn you..." He gasped weakly, as he jumped for Orochimaru and attempted to grab his shirt. Orochimaru easily steeped to the side and kicked him in the back, stomping him down to the ground and pinning him there with pressure. A loud, pained out cry was torn from Konohamaru's throat.

Konohamaru stumbled forward and on to his feet in a weak stance, turning towards Orochimaru with an anger that could only be produced by the young, relatively simple mind of a child. He paused only to spit out the blood pooling in his lacerated mouth and then attacked Orochimaru, undetoured by the futility of his attempts. But much to his surprise he didn't get anymore then a few inches from where he'd been standing before strong arms wrapped around him and pulled him back.

"Damn kid, calm down." The deep, familiar voice of Kisame came from behind and he was pulled against his chest in restraint.

Konohamaru didn't care who was holding him, he just wanted to get at Orochimaru. "Let me go! Let me go!" He struggled wildly, never removing his eyes from Orochimaru for a second.

'Where the hell did all this energy come from.' Kisame, who had been kneeling down, was forced to stand up and pull Konohamaru off of the ground to remove some of the boy's leverage and ease his resistant of him. "Don't be a goddamn idiot! Calm down."

"That Bastard! Let me go! GET OFF OF ME!" Konohamaru only fought harder to get away, bucking his head against Kisame's chest, pushing off of the man's stomach with his feet, squirming feverously with the rest of his body.

"Kisame?" Orochimaru drew back with visible surprise at the sight of the Akatsuki member. Even worse, he knew that where there was Kisame... "!" Orochimaru quickly stepped forward and pivoted around fast enough to cause more blood to come from the wound in his back, just in time to come face to face with none other then Itachi Uchiha. "Itachi...Why are you here?" He spat venomously. Why now? Why did he have to show up _now_? "This isn't your problem."

"Unfortunately for you." Itachi took a step forward toward Orochimaru offensively. "It is."

"You keep interrupting me." Orochimaru took a step back, inching closer towards the wall with a visible slowing in his step because of the knife in his back. "I'm sure Akatsuki wouldn't go through all of the trouble of inhibiting me. This doesn't concern you."

"Your wrong about that, you see, it concerns this kid, so it concerns us." Kisame growled, tightening his hold on Konohamaru. He often said that he had no attachment to Konohamaru, and he couldn't care either way about him, but if he wasn't holding Konohamaru back right now then he'd attempting to strangle Orochimaru. He had no personal problem with the man, Orochimaru's action never really concerned him at all, but he had a lot of rage against Orochimaru solely because of what he did to Konohamaru. Kisame was more attached to him then he thought.

Orochimaru continued to inch backwards until his wounded back was against the wall. It came suddenly, a look of realization crossed his face. He seemed a lot less fearful then, a smirk even crept across his pain strickened features.

"You killed him..." Konohamaru half mumbled, struggling just as hard as ever, he didn't even seem to realize that Kisame and Itachi was there, they were simply an obstruction. He didn't hear Kisame's words, all he felt was some restraint keeping him from his goal, Orochimaru...he...he had to get to him.

"?" Itachi tilted his head toward the broken windows of the office curiously, he heard it before anyone else, but it wasn't long before Kisame noticed it too. The faint sound of something that grew louder as it came closer...Maybe that was why Orochimaru looked so confident, what was that?

"YOU KILLED HIM YOU BASTARD!" Konohamaru finally managed to slip free of Kisame's hold, sliding underneath his arms and pushing himself free, and as soon as his feet hit the ground he bolted towards Orochimaru.

"Damnit Konohamaru no!" Kisame went after him without hesitation, but his speed wasn't enough to get close. Konohamaru was faster then him in short distances.

A burst of snow, glass and debris blew into the room in a torrent of wind as an silver fighter plane dropped down from above so suddenly that it was frightening. Something Itachi and Kisame realized was coming before hand but Konohamaru was too angry to notice it or the danger it caused. "Shit! Goddamnit Konohamaru stop!" Kisame shouted, looking on with discouragement as the barrels of both Glatting guns underneath both of the aircraft's wings began to rotate.

Itachi's form was little more then a blur as he grabbed Konohamaru and ran towards the door. '!' Kisame, seeing that Itachi had Konohamaru, quickly turned back and followed. The two burst out of the door and ran down the hall just in time to get out of the way as a torrent of bullets began to burst through the walls of the next room, pounding to the wall adjacent to it.

Konohamaru instantly began to settle down when he saw this, he slump lifelessly in Itachi's arms, and just watched. It was almost as if he'd fallen asleep, such a sudden unexpected lost of the passionate anger that controlled him was almost perplexing. He only stared without words or motion, like seeing this had finally caused something in him to snap or die. Neither Itachi nor Kisame could understand the reason for it.

It was a few more seconds before the barrage of bullets stopped, and as soon as Konohamaru was sure that the last round had been fired he pried himself from Itachi's hold and charged into the room. By then there was little left of it, the door was blown apart, the walls were barely standing. Every bit of furniture had been torn apart, nothing was left, expect for the Sarutobi who lay there completely undisturbed. Of course Orochimaru was gone, and so was Kabuto had been there just in time to cover his escape.

'..' Konohamaru walked towards the fallen man with slow, reluctant steps. He stared ahead unevenly as if in a daze, his eyes half lidded and almost unfocused and his mouth hanging open slightly with no sound coming out. Maybe he was in shock, but no reaction was invoked in, he just walked, he didn't even seem to realize anything until he was in front of the body of his Grandfather laying before him and standing in the blood pooled around his grandfather's body, the blood seeping out of him like death. Blood was death, taking the life with it when escaped the body. When ever he saw blood people died, it was almost like it killed, he flinched when he saw it.

Everything he knew he was suppose to be feeling inside his seemingly dead mind came rushing on to him at once, to feel the sorrow, the anger, the fear of blood rising up inside of him was an inexplicable experience. It swelled up from some place in chest like an oppressive force, making it hard to breathe, his heart pound anxiously and his throat become dry. His stomach quivered and his legs began to tremble with weakening muscles until he fell to his knees and didn't have the strength to move. "No..." He screamed, he at lest tried to scream but the words came out low and weak, like his voice had left him. His throat felt as if it was welling up. "No, No..." Tears streamed from his blurry eyes and a sob forced it's way out of his horse throat as he watched himself, half covered in his Grandfather's blood and too overcome to move or look away. When he realized his current state he was instantly hit with a burst of nausea and anxiety causing him to gasp for air. But no matter how much he gasped the air never reached his lungs.

"No...Grampa...No! No! NO!"

Itachi and Kisame gave each other silent glances. "We have to go." Itachi said firmly. Orochimaru's men couldn't hold security forever, even with his spies.

Kisame sighed, he couldn't just leave him here, not like this, at lest not with out saying anything. With that fact keenly aware in his mind, he walked to Konohamaru with the same reluctant steps the boy had been taking to that spot before. He felt like he had to say something, but couldn't, he didn't know what to say. And some form of embarrassment or pride, probably both, wouldn't allow him to even attempt to try to articulate what he really wanted to tell him. Kisame knelt down and placed his hand on Konohamaru back and looked him directly in the eye with a firm look, he didn't need to say anything, the words would have just gotten in the way. Konohamaru looked back, the tears and cries quieted, he couldn't cry in front of Kisame and Itachi, something wouldn't let him.

He understood though, he barely knew what he was understanding but he knew what got it.

Kisame drew his hand away and walked away with out looking back, disappearing beyond the doorway with Itachi. The tears and sobs seemed to come freely now...

! - ! - !

Kakashi extended the barrel of the sniper riffle forward, his eyes firmly against the scope. He laid completely flat and silent in the narrow ventilation shaft, aiming between the bars of the vent's cage into the ship's cabin where three men reside at panel filled with switches, meters, screens and gauges all vital to controlling the cargo ship. The man in the center was presumably the Captain, and the two men beside him must have been crew members.

Kakashi fired the first shot, firing a round through the Captain's head and splattering blood on the windshield overlooking the deck. Then he quickly aimed and fired another well placed bullet into the man to the left as he was looking at what had happened but was killed him before he even had time to react. The third yelped in surprised and looked around frantically in an attempt to figure out what was happening, but he couldn't do it fast enough before Kakashi killed him with another accurate shot.

With them out of the way he pushed the vent's cage out of his way and slipped out of the shaft, landing gracefully on his feet. "Any time now Zabuza..." Kakashi mumbled behind his mask as he examined the room, there wasn't anything notable... except for one thing that caught his eye. It was resting beside the door, something not completely out of place on this ship, but questionable. Kakashi knelt beside it, it was a small steel box marked with a tracking number, something that should have been in the cargo bay but either was reluctant to be given up or here by mistake. 'Hmm...This is-'

A thunderous sound erupted from below, an explosion that shook the whole ship violently enough to make Kakashi fall on to his back. He cringed at the horrible sound of buckling steel and lost what little balance he was regaining when the ship tilted sharply to the left and stayed that way. 'Alright Zabuza...' Kakashi grabbed on to the wall and pulled himself up, quickly rushing up a new found slope to the other side of the room to a large panel mounted on the wall. It held the blue print of the ship's lower levels with lights mounted in specific places and switches under them. They were indication of the ship's flood gates, and all of them were closing.

That would be a problem. So Kakashi reopened each one of them... "Zabuza..." Kakashi cringed when he heard the horrible sound of steel snapping under some intense pressure. For some reason he began to get this overwhelming sense of worry... "Damn it, Zabuza."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Consciousness was thrust on him forcefully. He felt warm... and comfortable, above all dry, neither of these were things he should have been in. But what made him aware enough to realize this was one bad shift that put too much friction on his burned back, and when he felt the sudden flare of burning pain Asuma sat up sharply with a sharp hiss. "Ahhaaa..." 'Huh...' The last thing he remembered was being on fire and jumping out of a second story window of a crumbling building, this was the farthest thing from that.

He found himself in his bed, stripped of all of his wet clothing and laying in nothing more then a pair of boxers. His torso was wrapped in bandages coated with a slick substance , most likely balm. 'What...?' Asuma looked to his left and beside the bed was a faithful Iruka sleeping in a chair, wearing a pair of pants with his torso exposed and a host of bruises and cuts patched up, in particular the gash on his left side was seeping blood. "Huh...?"

The small, questioning sound awaken a tense Iruka with a start, the man looked around quickly before his eyes settled on Asuma. "Asuma. Oh your awake?"

Asuma scratched his head lightly and dropped his hands in to his lap. "How did I get here?"

"I brought you here." Iruka said simply. "I would have gone to the hospital but you should see all of the injured people, and with the power out and all..." Iruka's voice trailed off with his point made.

"You brought me here? How' d you find me?"

Iruka shrugged. "I was worried and I came looking for you."

'In that condition?' Asuma couldn't believe Iruka had gotten him all the way here, he'd obviously encountered some resistance at the phone company...An expression of sudden remembrance came on to Asuma's face, speaking of resistance... "What about everyone else, are they alright?"

The sudden change in Asuma's tone made Iruka start to worry as soon as he heard it. "No, I haven't heard from them yet...Besides Lee and Shikamaru, they're in the other room."

Asuma pushed himself off of the bed and stood to his feet abruptly, looking around as if he was lost for a few seconds before deciding on a course of action. "We have to go, now." He announced, crossing the relatively small room to the closet with hasty steps.

"Why?" Iruka leaned forward, only to be bombarded with a coat tossed at his head.

Asuma began quickly digging around in his closet for anything suited for wear in winter, he didn't have time to be picky. "They were doing something, all of this was a set up."

"Uh Asuma, I don't think you should try and go anywhere in your condition. " Iruka said warningly. He could see the pain in Asuma's body, in every movement of the muscles pressing against his skin, every tense, every twinge of pain and soreness. He was definitely not in good shape right now, the last thing he needed to do was over exert himself.

"Everyone else could be dead." Asuma said simply, but holding a hasty firmness.

Iruka looked up at Asuma with a sigh, maybe Asuma knew enough to actually do something about it, Iruka couldn't find a trace of anyone else and could only wait. "Then... we better hurry."

Asuma pulled on the first thing he could he could find and put a coat on over it, then left the room with the same curtness he'd searched with, leaving Iruka to trail behind. He found Lee and Shikamaru waiting in the kitchen, Shikamaru sat back loosely in the chair, holding his usual composure with his eyes close and arms folded patiently. Lee opposingly had his head down on the table, his right arm resting across it lazy and his eyes fixed on the three holes in his palm. Both of them became alert as soon as the two men walked through the door.

"Lee, Shikamaru?" Asuma stopped in front of them, his face showing every bit of his dismay. "Naruto, Sasuke, and Konohamaru were with you weren't they? Were are they?"

That part neither of them were too clear on, they had been so busy with Jiroubou... "Uh well..." Lee looked up thoughtfully. "Konohamaru...there were some police office-"

"Shit!" Asuma grimaced at those words. "They were fake, they were from the sound. Damnit..."

"Yeah." Shikamaru nodded. "Naruto and Sasuke said something about that before they left, I'm sure they went after Konohamaru." Lee and Shikamaru attempted to follow, but Naruto and Sasuke had a much better sense of the city so they could navigate it even in the middle of the blizzard going on out side. Lee and Shikamaru how ever couldn't, and had no idea where to start looking, they'd lost too much time to try and track them.

"What would they do with Konohamaru?" Iruka couldn't seem to piece all of this together. "What possible use could he have?"

"Unless..." Asuma reasoned. "They're using him to get to his grandfather... Damnit we have to find them, now."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

It was cold, miserably cold, or maybe they were just miserable, it was hard to tell the difference. Zabuza and Kakashi trudged across frozen pavement of a long bridge arching across Konoha's harbor, taking high steps over the thick layer of snow that coated the surface. The harsh, cold, howling winds blew more snow directly at them, making it hard to see more then a few feet ahead.

Kakashi held the steel box he'd taken from the ship under his arm, letting his eyes settle on the ground out of reach of the air current. If anyone was miserable it was him, he was soaking wet from head to toe, and already most of his clothing was frozen stiff and white with a layer of sticking snow. Well on his way to a case of hypothermia.

Zabuza was cold of course, there was no way he couldn't be, but with the water resistant and some what insulated clothing he appropriately wore he at lest was dry. Escaping the sinking ship didn't necessarily ensue getting wet, Kakashi had done his job and finding and reserving a life boat as well as clearing any resistance. By all means he should have waited, but he couldn't seem to and went back to find Zabuza. As it turned out Zabuza didn't need his help at all and was doing a great job of escaping the hull of a ship he'd just detonated a considerably powerful bomb on.

And there in came the wetness, there was a considerable amount of water down there, an escape from such a place required one to be a good swimmer in order to get away from the currents all rushing in from the left side of the ship.

Zabuza looked at Kakashi, and as soon as Kakashi's eyes shifted away from the ground he turned his gaze over the side of the bridge at the water surrounding them... something was really off about this bridge, it was pretty far away from the coast to be one bridge... "What is with this bridge? Something here doesn't seem right." The man finally mumbled in a low voice.

"This is a highway." Kakashi responded, his voice was shaky, a rising shiver threatened to come forth."Theres only one lane here."

"What?" Zabuza looked up at him again, then mentally kicked himself. He wasn't the type of person to make idle conversation and he didn't like the people who were. Though why a whole lane of a highway was missing was odd and couldn't really be considered idle, it wasn't what he wanted to talk about.

"This is really strange, where are all the people? What happened to the cars?" Kakashi wondered, still keeping his eyes on the ground and out of the winds. His voice trembled fully now, his whole body shook from the cold. "Odd..."

Zabuza silently agreed, maybe if he thought about it something would come to mind, but he wasn't focused on it. His mind thought of other things, thing he couldn't seem to understand right now. 'Yeah, odd.'

Kakashi tilted his head upward toward the obstructed gray sky, then he shuttered as a sneeze shook through him. 'Great...' Kakashi looked ahead miserably, clinching the cold steel of the box under his arm even tighter... "Huh?"

"What? What is it?"

"I see something..." Kakashi paused and peered forward, staring through the wall of snow... 'Is that...' Then with out warning he charged forward as fast as he could, running past Zabuza and disappearing in the wall of snow.

"Kakashi?" He was surprised to see Kakashi just run away like that, Zabuza went after him, and had to come to a sudden stop only a few seconds later, nearly running into Kakashi who only went a few feet ahead. '?' They both stood in front of a car, a deep green one, stalled in a odd position in the middle of the road. A red tool box sat by the rear wheel visible to them, and someone's lower body protruded from beneath the vehicle. More notably there was a M50 rocket luncher laying nearby.

Who else would it be? "Gai." Kakashi set the steel box down on the car's trunk, keeping his eyes fixed on the man half hidden below. He didn't get an answer. "Gai." Kakashi called out to him again, waiting a few seconds for a response. For the second time he got none. He was starting to get worried

Kakashi knelt down to the ground and waited a few seconds longer for some recondition, this was the first time Gai didn't immediately respond when he called out to him, something really must have been wrong. Finally Kakashi took hold of Gai's legs and pulled the man out from underneath the car on the icy pavement, even then he got no response. Gai just laid there, staring upward with half-lidded unfocused eyes, as if he was looking right through Kakashi, in his hands he held a ratchet outward and using it on something unseen, he seemed to think he was still under the car, or couldn't tell the difference.

Kakashi and Zabuza looked at each other with an air of uneasiness, Zabuza was more uneasy, Kakashi was simply worried. "Is he asleep?" Zabuza asked, he couldn't really tell.

Kakashi waved his hands in front of Gai's eyes and the man didn't even blink, 'Hmm...Maybe he is.' Kakashi started to notice the wounds the other man had when he saw the streaks of red in the snow, his back was bleeding profusely, not to mention the few seeping cuts and bruises on his torso. 'What happened...' Kakashi shook him lightly, careful of the spots that had to be painful to the other man. "Gai...Gai!...Gai!"

Finally Gai responded, he blinked and the focus slowly returned to his eyes. "...Kakashi?" Gai yawned and then flinched, making Kakashi notice that his hand was on Gai's stomach and quickly pulled it away. "K-Kakashi, what...are you doing here?" There was this weak, dazed attribute to his voice that matched the expression he had before, maybe it was from the cold, maybe it was from the blood loss, maybe it was a lot of things.

Kakashi wouldn't put it past Gai to attempt to fix his car in this condition.

"Are you alright?" Kakashi pulled the ratchet out of his hand and tossed it aside.

"Sakon, he...The road..." Gai reached up and grabbed Kakashi's shoulder and sat up, moving in a string of sloppy, unorganized movements, he looked as if he was drunk. "C-check the road for explosives."

Kakashi looked back at Zabuza who nodded. "I got it."

"He blew up..the road." Gai grunted, he reached back with his other hand and pulled himself up to his knees, not getting much father before he stumbled. "One of the lanes... it's completely..."

Kakashi wrapped his arms around Gai's waist and caught him before he fell. "Take it easy, what are you trying to do?" He asked, pulling the man on to his feet.

Gai barely seemed to hear him. He stumbled forward, pulling towards something, while Kakashi simply helped him walk and followed whichever way he wanted to go, though where wasn't clear yet. "I was worried...If they set me up...t-then they must have did the same to everyone else." Gai moved sloppily to the other side of the car and made it to the rear seat behind the driver's before nearly collapsing again. "Your...so cold..."

The top of Gai's car was missing completely, since it was a convertible and the considering what probably transpired here, the roof was gone and wouldn't be found. "I told you to take it easy." Kakashi opened the door and laid Gai in the back seat, truthfully it was more like a fall.

"My car." Gai's dazed voice grew angrier when he spoke about his car, his hand fell on to his stomach and he decided to rest their for a moment, just until he could catch his breath. His words came out slurred, his words seemed drunk but his thoughts were sober enough. "Look what he did to my car..."

"Don't worry about that now." Kakashi glanced over to a broken guard rail bent inward and the smoldering hole in the side of a building the highway curved around. He didn't know what happened but he was sure it had to do why Gai's car was out of commission at the moment, and the rocket luncher. Gai was attempting to fix his car in this condition... that was Gai's persistence, not smart, not stupid, just persistent.

Zabuza emerged from beyond the snow, Gai's rocket launcher resting on his shoulder, "This road's fine." He set the weapon aside and opened the driver side door, thankfully he found the key still in the ignition, and then attempted to start it up...He thankfully he heard the booming sound of an engine starting, along with a few other sounds that really shouldn't have been there, they really weren't good. "He fixed it...I don't know how for it will get us but..."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Wow...it's only been an hour since I left here, I'd never imagined so much would happen since then." Iruka looked around the heavily damaged Uchiha house hold for any trace of Naruto, Sasuke and Konohamaru. All he found were remains of what looked like a pretty bad fight.

Asuma emerged from the dining room with a radio in hand. "Radio's working again."

"Did you tell them about KPD headquarters?" Iruka sat down on the sofa with a tired sigh, what a day this turned out to be, and it was only 11 o'clock.

"How it's now burning wreckage? Yeah, they know." Asuma began shifting around in his pockets, wincing every time his body faltered to the side and a shot of pain streaked along his torso.

'?' Iruka looked down down at the jacket he was wearing, "What about Kakashi? And Gai?"

"I haven't heard anything about them." Asuma reached out and caught a pack of cigarettes Iruka tossed back to him, he had forgotten Iruka was wearing his jacket. "Thanks." At the moment he was glad he had a bad habit to kick back on, this was stressful. "It's chaos out there, the only thing we'll going to be able to do is wait."

Iruka rubbed the back of his head, a nervous habit he always did when he was worried. "I was afraid of that..." He let his head fall back and he closed his eyes, he really wanted to go to sleep, but his mind wouldn't quiet it's anxious thoughts enough for him to be at peace.

Lee climbed through the hole in the kitchen and trudged past Iruka with his head hung low and his shoulder's slumped. Shikamaru followed behind with a slightly less depressed demeanor, standing patiently overhead while Lee sat down on the ground.

"What's with you?" Asuma leaned against the back of the sofa, watching Lee from the corner of his eye as he lit a cigarette in his mouth.

"I'm worried about Gai." Lee said, the slump in his voice adjacent to the one in his form. "I don't think he made it to the base he was talking about, he would have come back by now."

"Really, were do you think he is then?" Asuma asked, a bit of interest creeping into his voice.

"I don't know...but I can't just sit here." Lee nodded to himself as if to reassure his thinking and then stood up decidedly. "I'm gonna go check his house."

"You really think he'd be there?" Shikamaru asked doubtfully.

"I don't know but I have to try something." Lee nearly shouted. "Naruto, Sasuke and Konohamaru are gone, everybody's missing, I can't just sit here."

Shikamaru sighed, lowering himself down on to the ground beside him."I know your worried but Gai is more then capable of taking care of himself."

"I know but-"

"Lee, your gonna have to be patient." Shikamaru told him, but he knew Lee wouldn't be satisfied with that answer. The other boy was impulsive, and when he couldn't follow a particularly strong impulse whether it's a well thought out one or not, he became pint up with impatient energy until he couldn't stand it any longer. "Look...if we don't hear from him in an hour then we can go looking."

"...Yeah..." Lee shrugged and rested his head in his hands and sunk down even farther. "Alright."

Shikamaru could easily still see his dismay, Lee's expressions never betrayed every feeling he had at the moment "Lee...I'm sure every one is alright. Don't worry about them."

! - ! - !

Naruto held both of his arms tightly to his chest, a light shiver finally starting to creep into his body. He zipped up his jacket, which really didn't do him any good considering the battle created holes in the fabric, and walked head first into the frozen, snow saturated winds. He trailed behind Sasuke, wondering through the city with only previous knowledge of the streets and general senses of direction to lead, the snow made it hard to see anything. "Man, there is no one out here." He commented.

The streets were silent, except for the seldom sound of a single car pushing through the high, unplowed snow. Sasuke took notice of that but thought nothing of it, he wasn't focused on it, his mind was only set on Konohamaru. And if Konohamaru escaped again, and that was a very unsure, hopeful if, and he didn't go back to his house, and he knew he couldn't go back to the police. Then the only place he could think that Konohamaru would have gone was back to his home. "..."

Naruto looked down at the ground again when he didn't get a response, lifting his arm to his head to block the snowy wind blowing into his face. 'Sasuke...' He sighed to himself, attempting to keep pace with Sasuke.

Sasuke was walking unusually fast, forcing himself to keep his head up and look strait up into the white haze. He had to find Konohamaru, he couldn't let him get taken away again, he couldn't let him down again. After everything he did, Konohamaru barely trusted him, and just when they were finally starting to...

"Sasuke." Naruto reached out and grabbed Sasuke by the arm, forcing him to stop just as they came to a 4-way intersection. "He's going to be alright."

"..." Sasuke didn't respond, he just looked ahead.

Naruto wasn't sure if he believe it or not, but Sasuke's non responsiveness couldn't be a good sign. "Come on, Who could keep Konohamaru in one spot? If he could get away from Ebisu then he could get away from some guys like them."

"...Hn." Sasuke seemed to take the answer, it wasn't clear if he took any solace in it but he at lest said something.

"Listen." Naruto pulled himself to Sasuke's side, still holding a tight grip on his arm. "I'm worried about him to, but we're gonna find him."

"Yeah, so can we go find him now?" Sasuke said, clearly indicating the hold Naruto had on his arm.

Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his head nervously, releasing Sasuke. "Yeah."

They were about to set off again when something expected caught their attention. Sasuke paused and looked around, and apparently Naruto noticed it to. 'Huh?'

The blaring sounds of sirens could be barely heard in the distance, growing louder as they grew closer. It was indistinguishable, it was coming from every side, from all over. "Is that what I think it is?" Naruto looked around from where he was standing, able to see the flashing lights of blue and red against the white haze of heavy snow. Then all of a sudden police squad cars came sliding from three ways in the intersection, all accelerating forward in a loud haste.

"Holy crap!" Naruto waisted no time charging forward in the direction the squad cards had gone, Sasuke following in step with the same franticness. They ran as fast as they could, slowed down by shin deep snow but still making considerable time. That was, until they were stopped by barricades set around around a one street radius of their destination, the White house. "Oh man..."

Sasuke looked around at small but growing crowd, even with out communication people seemed to find their way here, the police certainly did. "What is going on around here..." Sasuke looked as far as he could in the low visibility, but he couldn't see anything too far, "Do you think...Konohamaru might be in there?"

"I-I don't know if I want him to be or not..."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Zabuza roughly dropped Kakashi on the man's bed, panting heavily to reclaim his breath as he fell down beside him. He had to admit, it may have been all the water frozen to him but Kakashi was heavy, especially when carrying him long distances. "Damnit, you too heavy." He muttered, clinching his rapidly rising and falling chest with every bit of the strain of an hour on a doomed tanker and an hour attempting to get Kakashi home.

There had been some set backs, snow was one of them, it made visibility low, and considering the fact Gai's car no longer had a roof, it did nothing for warmth. If anything it only made things colder since the car had been moving, it seemed like forever until they reached someplace remotely near here. Zabuza was so tired, he would have simply left Gai in the car but he knew Kakashi wouldn't like that, so he dropped Gai off at his house and left the car with him. It really wouldn't help much anyway, Kakashi didn't live too far and it was a lot warmer walking.

It didn't seem like that far of a trip before, but it hadn't been snowing then.

"I'll bet." Kakashi was fully shivering now, his voice trembled with his body and his words were a struggle to force out of frozen lips.

They both laid across the bed with out a word, staring upward at the ceiling with out the will to move as they panted to catch their breath and steady racing heart beats. Zabuza let his eyes drift inanely over to Kakashi who didn't seem able to move, and despite his attempt not to, his mind began to wonder about some things. "...Are you alright?" He asked reluctantly, looking away.

"..."

Zabuza quickly looked back at Kakashi when he didn't get a response, he saw the man's visible eye drifting closed and what awareness he had fading. "Kakashi!" Zabuza grunted with a worried annoyance as he rolled over and climbed over Kakashi, grabbing him roughly by the collar and shaking him, hard. "Get up..."

Kakashi's eye opened half lidded. "Huh?"

"Wake up." Zabuza pressed his hand against Kakashi's forehead, and then his cheek, he couldn't find a single part of his body that was warm.

"Uh..." Kakashi blinked, taking in a deep, frozen breath.

"At this rate you'll be hypothermic before you warm up." Zabuza said, if Kakashi wasn't already. He watched a small white cloud push it's way from beyond Kakashi's mask, he didn't notice it before but he wasn't just cold, it was cold in here too. "Damnit, why is it so cold in here!"

"I guess...the h-heat's out." Kakashi said.

Things could never just be easy around here.

Zabuza wrapped his arms around Kakashi's back, "Fine." Then he pulled Kakashi up into a sitting position, then climbed off the bed and pulled Kakashi on to his feet. "Just don't fall asleep."

Kakashi attempted to support himself and stand on his own, but he couldn't feel his legs , they were numb, like dead weight and the only thing he felt was cold. He immediately stumbled and faltered, falling back towards the bed. But with his usual swiftness, Zabuza reached out and caught him, pulling him forward into a tight embrace. "Doesn't look... I'll be m-moving any time s-soon." Kakashi joked, but with his failing voice it sounded weak and drowsy.

"..." Zabuza stalled for a few moments, waiting silently as Kakashi's chin fell on to his shoulder and the man slumped into his hold. "I'm going to have to take these wet clothes off."

"Good l-luck. They're frozen t-too me."

Zabuza rolled his eyes and ran one hand down Kakashi's back, slipping his fingers under the rim of his shirt and started to pull it upward. Kakashi was at lest partiality serious, his shirt was stiff from frozen water and it crackled as Zabuza forced it to bend. "Your going to have too lift you arms."

Kakashi barely heard him, he was too busy drifting off, but he forced himself to lift his arms, heavy and numb from the cold, while Zabuza pried the cold fabric off of him and tossed it aside. He never thought a simple action would be so hard. "Kakashi..." Zabuza reached in between them and began unbuttoning the other man's pants, one arm still firmly around his back. "Kakashi, wake up damnit."

Kakashi flinched from sudden obscenity uttered harshly in his ear. "Uha... Z-Zabuza. Practicing I see." Kakashi dropped his arms and wrapped them around Zabuza's neck, his head resting against his. "I'm... I."

"Just stay awake... "Zabuza said, fumbling with Kakashi's pants which truly were frozen .

"I..." Kakashi's eyes began closing again despite his best efforts. "I can't."

"Yes you can." Zabuza shook him forcefully, forcing Kakashi to awaken again. 'Why is it so damn cold in here.' Zabuza refrained from shouting a string of obscenities, he was cold but he'd at lest been dry, and what little clothing he'd been waring had been insulated. "Just focus on me."

"Tch...not much to f-focus on there." Kakashi yawned, letting his head fall on Zabuza's shoulder. "You n-never...say a-any...thing-"

Zabuza shook Kakashi again and shouted. "Get up damnit!"

"Your not e-exactly..." He was forced to stop when a shiver made his voice too shaky too speak."... The best person to h-hold a conversation... with." Kakashi said drowsily.

"..." Zabuza finally manged to unbutton Kakashi's pants and began pushing them down with sharp tugs. Conversation, sure he could do that, if that would keep Kakashi awake."Why did you come back for me?"

"B-because I was w-worried about you." That was one distinct difference between the two of them, Kakashi didn't hesitate to answer a question that Zabuza was so reluctant to ask.

"Why? I can take care of myself." Zabuza snorted, forcing Kakashi's pants down around his ankles.

"I-I'm aware."

By then Kakashi was fully devoid of the wet, frozen, clothing, and just as cold as when he had them on. Zabuza wrapped one arm around Kakashi's waist and pulled him up as he began to slump, he could feel just how cold he was now. "So why did you do it?"

"I told you...I-I was worried about you." Kakashi voice began to slur a bit atop the trembling. "If you..died down there...what would I do for fun?" Kakashi smirked, but it quickly faded as he began to drift off again. The only way Zabuza could tell was from the lack of speech, since Kakashi couldn't really move anyway.

Zabuza reached up and began removing Kakashi's mask, it was hard for him, his fingers lost all touch and could no longer bend to clutch or grasp anything. 'Come on goddammit.' Zabuza pulled his hand close to his mouth and blew a warm breath on the frozen appendages, blowing until his breath grew short again and he began slightly dizzy. "You thought I would die?" He grunted half sarcastically, quickly unstrapping and tossing aside Kakashi's mask before the numbness set in again.

"It w-was a distinct possibility." Kakashi joked, he gave up on keeping his eyes open, they were too heavy and his will was too short.

Zabuza looked at Kakashi, then at the bed, again such a short distance seemed so long. 'Damn heat.' He grunted in annoyment and forced himself to pick up Kakashi, pulling the bare form even closer as he took slow, stumbling steps to the bed and crashed down weakly on to it. Kakashi fell on his back, and Zabuza landed on top of him. Kakashi was glad for the change, so he didn't have to balance on dead weight legs he couldn't feel. "You should have worried about yourself instead of me."

"I...worryed about someone else instead of just myself, so, does it make me weak?" Kakashi forced out, his voice and consciousness fading by the word. He knew Zabuza's demeanor was a bit unilaterally selfish so doing something like that would probably make some one seem a lot weaker.

Zabuza didn't move, laying on top of Kakashi with his arms still wrapped around the other man's back. He was tired already. Being this close with out Kakashi's mask to muffle the sound he could hear Kakashi's harsh, trembling breaths against his ear. He looked away. "It makes you more likely to get killed."

"I'll take that risk." Kakashi let himself relax under Zabuza, he was warmer, and the warmth small bit of warmth was growing at a gruelingly slow but sure pace. Finally even the conversation couldn't keep him awake.

So that just meant Zabuza had to try harder. 'Get up damnit!' He forced his numb, half frozen hand to clinch into the closet's thing to a full fist as he could manage and punched Kakashi roughly in the face. In his current position that was about the only thing he could reach, and it worked, Kakashi abruptly opened his eyes.

"Did you h-have to hit me so hard?" Kakashi mumbled. He tilted his head back and laid it against Zabuza's shoulder again, enjoying the warm breath from the other man against his neck. "How do you k-know I'm hypothermic, I could just b-be sleepy."

"It's not even noon yet." Zabuza reached fumbling outward beside him until he felt the edge of the cover and pulled it over both of them. Then he wrapped his arms tighter around Kakashi to stop the trembling. "Just keep talking, you seem good at that."

"Funny."

"What was in that box you brought back?"


	24. Chapter 24: Another day

Chapter 24: Another day

"So you've heard what happened I see." Shikamaru folded his arms and closed his eyes morbidly. The silence about the Uchiha living room held the same morbidness as Shikamaru's tone. Naruto and Sasuke sat about with an awaiting stillness, not saying anything for a considerable amount of time. "Have any of you seen him?"

Naruto shook his head, his eyes still downcast. "No."

No one had seen a trace of Konohamaru since yesterday, but that didn't inhibit them from finding out what happened. The news had got around fairly well despite the power being out and phone lines being out of service, Konohamaru's grandfather was dead, not much news on Konohamaru save he was alive. And no one knew where he was.

"You guys must be worried." Shikamaru commented. "To be up this early." 7 am to be exact.

"What about you?" Naruto said. "I've never seen you awake before 11."

Shikamaru lifted his hands in surrender and dropped the subject, he didn't feel like expending the energy on it.

"Remember what happened when his parents died?" Lee sat down on the ground and let his hands fall in his lap, a small shutter pushed it's way through him from the chill in the air. The house was in bad shape, that went without saying, most of the holes had been temporarily patched and everything was waiting for repair. And though the hole's were covered heat still escaped and cold air still slipped in somehow. "He came here...He said he wanted to get away from all of those people. I was hoping...that he'd be here this time too. I really worried about him, losing all those people in such a short time."

"..." Sasuke didn't say anything, he just sat there and stared at the wall, thinking. There wasn't really much to think about, Konohamaru was alive, he took some solace in that, he just had to see him for himself.

Naruto laid his head on the back of the sofa and glanced through a half upside down vision at Shikamaru. "What about you?"

"Huh? What about me?"

"You said something about your arm yesterday."

"Oh..." Shikamaru slowly unfolded his arms and lifted his left one, his eyes rolled over it as if it was new or unfamiliar to him. 'This arm...' "It changed yesterday..."

"Changed? Didn't you say it hurt?" Naruto asked.

"Yes I did, whenever I tried to use my Chakra...but..." Shikamaru strained his eyes thoughtfully, rotating his arm, searching for something that would be somehow new about it. "But when I fought yesterday it didn't." It felt somewhat like something had snapped and the pressure that made his arm feel like it would burst open was relieved. Another thing he'd have to figure out, like why this was happening to him in the first place. "In fact it was completely different."

"Too bad you guys ran off." Lee said, a little bit more light hearted. "It was very cool."

"Wow!" Naruto turned around and climbed on his knees on the sofa. "Show it to me me!"

"Eh?" Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow upward, then just shook his head and looked away. "I don't even know what _it_ is exactly."

"Lets figure it out then!"

"It's too early."

! - ! - !

Kisame didn't know what time it was when the sound of shifting awoken him, the sound hadn't even registered with him and a simple word came to mind, Saturday. Kisame slept in on Saturdays, Itachi was allowed to wake him up as early as he wanted on any other day, but not on Saturdays. "..?" Kisame yawned softly and lifted his hand to his half matted hair, going through a host of other inane motions before his eyes peeked open.

'Huh?' Kisame let out a soft, sleepy groan and sat up, finding himself in the same position in the bed, in nothing but his boxers as he'd been last night, minus one Itachi. 'What time is it...' Kisame rolled back the black covers and pushed his legs over the side of the bed, his eyes shifted over to the door. And there he was, a half lost Konohamaru peaking his head through the half open door.

And as soon as he saw his face he felt a perfectly average Saturday fading, he didn't say anything, he couldn't seem too. They just stared at each other... "You gonna stand out there all day?" Kisame finally muttered. Konohamaru pushed open the door and stood there, his eyes unfocused and half lidded, his body stiff and half rigged.

'Damn...' Kisame leaned forward, his arms resting in his lap and his expression just as firm as ever. "Geez Kid, when's the last time you slept? You look like hell." Kisame never was one for conversation, all ways blunt.

A small sniffle erupted from Konohamaru, his shoulders began to shake, but even so he just clinched his fist. He felt weak, that much he couldn't deny it anymore, after being on his feet so long he couldn't... ".." Konohamaru took hard, slow steps towards the bed, willing himself to keep going as long as he could. Those few steps from the door to his destination seemed to take forever, each one just made him wish he'd be able to make the next. Until finally all strength left his legs like a receding tide and they gave way. "Uhhaaaa..." He fell forward on to the bed, his body hanging halfway off of it. "I...I can't move." He said, his voice almost broke as he spoke, a sob forced his volume to raise mid-sentence but he managed to repress, it was like forcing back a gag reflex.

"Huh?" Kisame glanced over at the clock resting on the nightstand sitting on the opposite side of his bed. 7:45, and the light of the sun was just barely peaking through the window, lightly illuminating the dim room in the shadows of closed blinds. "Why are you here so early?" Why would Konohamaru be here this early after what had just happened... "Geez, what time did you wake up?"

"I didn't...go to sleep." Konohamaru slumped weakly to his knees beside Kisame and held on tightly to the covers to keep from falling completely, but the hold was fleeting, his hands felt just as weak as his legs and what little strength resided there was fading. Why couldn't he move? Damnit why couldn't he move?

Kisame just watched him, trying to put this together. "What did you do last night?"

Konohamaru suddenly felt a nervousness , a fear of falling, a fear that if he slipped to the ground he wouldn't be able to get back up. "I don't know..." Konohamaru grunted, repressing another sob that rose up in him like vomit. He tred to pull himself up, at the lest he tred his hardest to keep from falling, but his hands were slipping, slowly un curling from the tight fist that held the covers. "I just took a walk and I ended up here."

'?' Kisame reached down and grabbed Konohamaru by his collar and pulled him up on to the bed almost roughly. Konohamaru reached up and grabbed Kisame's leg as soon as his body was completely on the surface, hugging it desperately. He didn't fall, Kisame had caught him... "You didn't go to sleep last night?" Kisame usually would have yelled at him for doing something like that and showing up here like this. But not after he'd seen him yesterday. That must have been the reason Konohamaru couldn't get up.

"Are...you ok?"

"He's dead." Konohamaru said simply, he attempted to push himself up on to his knees, but he couldn't call on the strength to do so. He felt just like he did yesterday, and he shuttered at the thought of himself covered in his grandfather's blood and unable to move... "He's dead."

Kisame rested his hand on Konohamaru's head, he couldn't find the words again, he felt embarrassed to do just this simple action. An infamous criminal like himself trying to console a kid, the thought was almost laughable even to him.

"That bastard... " Konohamaru's voice was shaky and tired, his eyes so blurry that he couldn't see clearly anymore. He sounded weak and pitiful, he wanted to scream but his body was to weak to allow his voice to do even that. "He killed my Grandfather, he killed my parents, he killed Ebisu, he took Sasuke from me...That bastard. " Tears came to his eyes despite his best efforts to hold them back, his throat grew painful and choked up with the tears held in him.

"It's alright kid." Kisame said, feeling a bit awkward for even letting Konohamaru hang on him like this. But he just forced himself through it, he could do this, just for Konohamaru. "It's ok.." But what was he suppose to say to him? What could he say to him?

"..." Konohamaru tried to speak but a loud cry finally forced it self out of his mouth in the place of his words. Tears spilled freely, rolling down his cheek as sobs forced themselves out. The boy buried his face into Kisame's leg and cried for the second time.

'Konohamaru...' Kisame rubbed the boy's back and rested his hand on the boy's head, he'd let him cry, he almost wanted him to cry in fact, it was better then the alternative of repression. Konohamaru tended to become...unwell at best when he did that.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Zabuza opened his eyes, and inanely his vision focused on the ceiling. It was almost customary of him, when he woke up he never moved, he never made a sound, his breathing never even changed, he just opened his eyes and stared upward until his mind became fully aware again. A habit that had caught Kakashi off guard on several occasions.

Kakashi was different, he was quiet compared to most, loud compared to Zabuza. He always shifted around a little, on days when he had a really pleasant sleep and woke up to a really nice morning he yawned and stretched his arms above his head. Zabuza took notice of it and had to get use to sharing a bed with someone who moved apposed to just himself.

He liked the changed, Kakashi was always warm, and it felt good to hold a body. And a satisfaction came about when he thought about who he was holding. Such a satisfaction came about today as he held the bomb squad member who's back was resting against his chest and head was press under his chin, Zabuza's arm draped over his shoulders.

Kakashi shifted under the embrace, under the blanket covering both of them. His mouth slowly opened and a yawn drifted through, slowly stretching his arm above his head with the satisfying loosening of stiff muscles. Finally with a few blinks he opened his eyes half way and smiled inwardly, "Warm..."

"Are you alright?" The deep voice of Zabuza came down from above, sudden enough to almost make Kakashi flinch.

"Yeah." Most of all he was warm, he appreciated warmth and sleep more then ever after yesterday. He'd never wanted to sleep more in his life, but on the other hand he never had hypothermia. "Thank you."

Zabuza looked down at Kakashi, it was just something about those words that felt new, enough to make him blush and look away. "It was nothing."

"I'll bet" Kakashi rolled over and brought himself face to face with Zabuza, a sleepy grin crossing his face when he looked down at the other man. "So, how can I repay you?"

Zabuza smirked, resting one arm behind his head as he looked up at the other man. "Take a wild guess."

Kakashi's grin grew wider as he lent down and pressed their lips together in a soft kiss, he could make the first move, just this once.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Shikamaru please." Sasuke dropped his head in frustration and annoyance, he was even surprised himself that his patience held out this long. "Just show him, so he can shut up." It had been a while, though shorter then it seemed, Naruto didn't seem to want to give up asking Shikamaru to show him.

Shikamaru sighed, 'Yeah...he's just like him.' "Fine, I'll show you." Shikamaru said in defeat, he'd never get any peace if he didn't. 'This is so troublesome...' He'd just think of it as an experimental run, just to test it out... Shikamaru dragged himself to the center of the room, taking short glances around, Naruto sat anticipation on the sofa in front of him, Lee sat beside him with a small admiration about him as he watched. And Sasuke just in a chair nearby, looking on with interest.

He'd do it, if not for any other reason but for peace. Shikamaru clasped his hands together, extending two fingers on his left had and an expression of skilful concentration coming to his face. His Chakra flared up in a flash and like a flame a black aura enveloped his body.

"Whoa..." Naruto smiled as he looked on in amazement, leaning forward slightly. "That is so cool!"

Shikamaru had to admit, he did like that expression he saw on Naruto's face when he did things like this. 'Geez, what a place.' he couldn't help but have an odd thought such as that when he looked down and saw simply black streaking across his left arm like coming shadows from fading light. Maybe it was because he was nervous about it that his mind wondered...

"So." Naruto pushed himself off of the sofa and walked over to Shikamaru, his eyes bright and filled with the darkness illuminating from Shikamaru. "What does it feel like?"

"...Nothing." Shikamaru held the pitch black arm up and twisted it around, looking over it scrutinizingly. "I don't feel _it_ at all...I feel something different entirely."

Naruto softly ran his finger over Shikamaru's arm, it was like gell..."What do you feel?"

"That." He pointed to Naruto's shadow, "And that." Then he pointed to a patch of darkness beneath the couch, "I feel all of it."

Sasuke seemed to take a little more interest when he said that. "If you can feel them, can you do anything with them?"

Shikamaru nodded, he'd done it before, how hard could it be now? Shikamaru closed his eyes and focused on Naruto's shadow, it amazed him how easy it was, as simple as moving a finger. Naruto's shadow stretched out surrealy across the ground, then pulled away from him completely,circling around him like an ominous figure submerged below the depths of a large body of water.

"That is so cool!" Naruto dropped to his knees and watched his shadow, attempting to stick his finger into it just incase it had grown some substance during Shikamaru's technique.

Shikamaru let his hands fall to his side and Naruto's shadow returned to it's rightful place, he had to figure out how this worked. "Satisfied?"

Naruto nodded like a child who'd just got a piece of candy.

'Hmm...' Lee, though interested in Shikamaru's new found powers, had been drawn away by an urge of his own. It was a feeling of slight oppression, almost like a very faint nausea, something he wouldn't have felt if he wasn't paying attention to himself. It drew him into the dining room, across the long table and right in front of the half patched hole in the wall. And there it was, the source of this feeling, it was something as simple as a plant.

A house plant, a ficus maybe, it was hard to tell since it was sagging and brown, dead and half frozen. "..." Lee's expression dropped slightly when he saw it... "It must have froze..." He said to himself, but... Lee dug his fingers into the potting soil and closed his eyes, the soil was still alright. He wasn't sure of what he was trying to do by messing around with it. He just felt this connection, something like Shikamaru with the darkness only it wasn't like a body part, it was more of a mental one, he felt it with his mind, his blood, his Chakra, and is heart.

'I...I can feel it...' He could feel it's death, he could feel the absence of life in this plant. And what he did next just felt right, if he could make his sapling grow, then maybe...

A green aura surrounded the dead plant and it began to shake lightly, then the brown, crinkled leaves began to fall off, sheading the dead cells to reveal small buds underneath. Then the plant began to grow at an extreme rate, the sagging body rising up and taking shape until it firm and new, completely alive again. Lee slipped his fingers out of the soil with a smile at his work, he could hardly believe it worked.He could not only make plants grow, he could make them live.

"That's an amazing skill."

Lee nearly flinched when he heard Sasuke's calm voice behind him, he looked over his shoulder and rubbed his head with a smile. "Thank you."

Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets, leaning forward to take a closer look at the revived plant. "So, does it work on people too?"

"I don't know, I never tried it." Lee looked up thoughtfully. "I should try."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Iruka leaned forward and peered out of the window, thankful that it wasn't an impassible blizzard anymore. The storm had left behind at lest 3 feet of snow, something he wasn't looking forward to driving in. "I guess my day off is canceled." Iruka sighed, pushing himself away from the window.

"It won't be so bad." Asuma laid across his bed, reluctant to move or even to open his eyes with the hopes he'd get some last remanence of rest before he was forced to leave his home.

"Really?" Iruka rubbed the back of his head and paced around slightly. "I don't want to repeat this story over and over, and the paperwork, just think of the forms."

"At the very least we'll get to hear from everyone else, maybe we can piece this together." Asuma pointed out, "And who knows, we'll get to find out what happened to Konohamaru."

"Yeah." Iruka lifted his hand to his mouth and yawned, if he ever needed coffee... "If it won't be so bad then why won't you get up?"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Itachi knew Kisame slept in on Saturdays, no matter what, though he was surprised that he didn't smell the scents of food when he walked through the door of his ceremoniously normal hide out. He wasn't sure Kisame was even here. Everything was just the way he'd left it at the early hours of the morning when he'd first went out to report back to Akatsuki. Kisame was suppose to come with him, but Kisame didn't seem to care about any reprimand for his lack of attendance and went back to sleep.

Just like he always did on Saturdays.

Itachi would have continued to think he was gone had he not seen the wet footprints leading upstairs. "Konohamaru..." He didn't expect Konohamaru to sneak off here so soon.

He curiously followed the small prints up the stairs and down the hall to his bedroom door. "Hmm..." He smiled with amusement at the sight.

Kisame was asleep like always, and Konohamaru was here just as he'd thought, though the positioning was quite curious. Kisame slept contently under the covers with Konohamaru wrapped in his arms held closely to his chest, he'd probably never admit he was doing this while he was conscious.

With that in mind he'd allow them both to sleep.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"For god's sake kid why the hell are you still here?" Kisame didn't bother to look back, he knew who it was. Kisame sat on a stool at a table at the basement, one covered in boxes and rounds of different caliber ammunition, and something that seemed completely out of place, a steel container smoking with mist from the half open lid. It wasn't so strange considering what Kisame's specialty was.

Konohamaru stood in the door way, leaning almost weakly against the frame, his eyes fixed on Kisame's back. "You and Itachi are just alike..." Konohamaru said almost disappointedly, his shoulder was pressed against the wall and his arms hung down limply, there was definitely a slower pace to his voice, completely sober, not holding the life it always did.

Kisame held up a small cap between his large fingers, slipping a needle attached to a nozzle with a hose connected to the steel container into the cap. With a single squirt he filled the cap and set the nozzle down, then skillfully connected the cap to a 9mm round. "He told you to get out too huh?" Kisame set the round aside picked up another cap.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?"

"Making bullets..." Konohamaru dropped his eyes to the white tiles of the floor, he felt cloudy, detached, like he was watching himself from the outside. Maybe it was because he cried for a longer time then he could recant, maybe he didn't have anything left anymore. Well, it was better then to keep crying in front of Kisame, he was the last person he wanted to see him cry. Maybe he could stand Itachi, Itachi never said anything, but Kisame did. "Kisame...can you train me some more?"

Kisame sighed in annoyance, any other time he would have had no problem saying no and kicking Konohamaru out. But Konohamaru seemed lost today, anybody who just wondered around all night in 3 feet snow until he was too weak to move anymore, who knew what he'd do now. Speaking of weak... "Have you even eaten?"

"I'm not hungry." Konohamaru shrugged, in fact he was actually feeling nauseous. Every time he thought of yesterday, or anything pertaining to his grandfather, or his parents, or even Ebisu. His mind went to one thing, their blood, the feel of it on his body, even the taste of it. How Orochimaru... "!" Konohamaru flinched and clasped his hand over his mouth, feeling a sharp spasm of whatever was inside of him threatening to come back out.

'Damn he screwed you up...' Kisame set down the materials he worked with and stood up. "What are you thinking about?" He stood over Konohamaru knowingly, the same annoyance clear in his voice. That reaction didn't come out of nowhere, he'd just spent the last few hours with Konohamaru, he knew it came from some thought.

Konohamaru let his hand fall to his stomach and took a deep breath to stifle it's unease, "Nothing." He replied systematically.

"Ki-"

"Nothing." Konohamaru repeated even firmer.

"Don't give me that crap." Kisame nearly shouted. "If nothing's wrong then you can eat."

"I'm not hungry." Konohamaru said again, some emotion returning to his voice.

After 24 hours without food, of course Konohamaru would normally be hungry, Kisame had seen the full extent of his appetite. "It's always something...Kisame mumbled to himself. "What the hell are you thinking about that's got you about to throw up all over my goddamn floor?"

"Nothing damnit nothing!" Konohamaru yelled, he didn't want to think about it! Not even for Kisame's sake, he wasn't going to think about it and he surely wasn't going to repeat it! If he had to do that, he was sure he'd lose it.


	25. Chapter 25: Healing

Chapter 25: Healing

"I can't believe we're back to this." Kisame rubbed his head trying and quell a rising ache, he never had anyone put him through so much trouble. He watched from against the opposite wall as Itachi held the half sleeping Konohamaru up right on the couch. "I've never seen somebody with so many goddamn problems."

Kisame had to wait about an hour until Konohamaru inevitably fell asleep again, someone as weak as he was was bound to do so some time, until he got Itachi to do this. And Itachi of course agreed, having the distinct certainty that it wasn't just curiosity, though Kisame would never admit it even to himself, that drove Kisame to ask him to do this for the second time.

Itachi lifted Konohamaru's chin softly with one hand, the other mounted on his shoulder shaking him lightly. "Mmm..." Konohamaru stirred slightly and slowly opened his eyes, and they immediately met with Itachi's darker ones, ones that seem to be glowing in an unusual red, ones that now held a strange design that they never held before... "..." Konohamaru's eyes widened almost as if in shock, but any surprise quickly left him and his eyes crept down until they were half lidded and dazed, holding little life.

"How the hell do you do that?" Kisame could never understand it.

"What did you want to ask him?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah, I have really good question." Kisame folded his arms and walked with heavy steps toward Itachi. He leaned forward over Itachi's shoulder and looked Konohamaru directly in the eyes. "Why won't you eat?"

Konohamaru didn't have any reaction this time, he didn't even move, proof he really was in a state of hypnosis. "...I can't."

Kisame repeated the question, or was about to anyway, but Itachi shook his head and prompted him to wait.

It was a few seconds before Konohamaru spoke again, his face still holding the same sleepy look and his eyes steady with the same wonton gaze. "I keep seeing them... I can't stop thinking about it."

"Thinking about what?" Itachi asked.

"Ebisu, Grandpa, Mom and Dad." Konohamaru said. "They died and... it was everywhere, it was all over me..."

"What?What was all over you?"

"Their...blood." Konohamaru told him "I can still taste my Mom's and Dad's from when Orochimaru..." The boy's voice trailed off and he sat dormant, staring forward with out even the slightest change in his eyes when recalling the painful memory.

"I get the picture." Kisame said, "You can stop."

Itachi nodded, lifting his hands off of Konohamaru's shoulder and then closing his eyes. Whatever hold he had broke after that, Konohamaru shuttered and his eyes widened with what ever sudden surprise he had before, "...!" Tears formed in his eyes and images flooded in his mind that he had been successfully not thinking about all morning. The boy fell on to his side and could do nothing more but curl into a ball loud as sobs forced themselves out.

Itachi and Kisame gave knowing glances to each other, both holding the same thought.

! - ! - !

"You really think it'll work?" Shikamaru leaned curiously over Lee's shoulder beside a fixated Naruto with an interest, feeling the chill drifting in from the Uchiha dining room into the living room. "You haven't had any medical training."

Lee sat on the ground with his legs crossed in the center of the room, they had cleaned up the debris and broken fragments of damaged objects leaving the room clear and almost clean in appearance, it would have been had the holes not been in the walls and the breaks in the floor boards. Sasuke sat beside him in a similar position, his eyes fixated on Lee with fascination. "It works with plants." Lee said, holding Sasuke's arm stretched out before him and studying a gash across his bicep. It had stopped bleeding yesterday and had been cleaned, only Sasuke hadn't taken the time to bandage it. "Shouldn't it work on humans too?"

"Plant cells and animal cells are two different structures." Shikamaru told him. "The same technique might not apply."

Lee reached behind him and retrieved the familiar and seeming very healthy sapling mounted in the potting soil. It was held in a capsule that looked more like an overturned jar, he quickly lifted the glass top off and laid the plant in his left hand, feeling the familiar pain of it's roots digging into his palm. "Alright, let's see." Lee pressed two fingers horizontally against the stem and closed his eyes, his face didn't become remotely strained or even a single twinge of concentration came into his expression. He was completely calm as a light green aura started to glow softly over his body.

Lee held his free hand over the unhealed wound on Sasuke's arm, from there it was simple to him, creating and stimulating cell growth was almost like second nature, a task as simple as thinking a a certain thing. "?" Sasuke lent down for a closer look as he saw the wound seemingly bubbling with new growths until the wound closed completely, though a scar was left behind. "T-That's amazing."

Lee pulled Sasuke's arm closer and looked down at as if he couldn't believe that he had actually done it. "It worked? It worked!"

They were interrupted by the sounds of the door being forced open and the sounds of the wooden structure, half off it's hinges, dragging across the ground. Iruka came half nervously into the living room, "That door needs to be replaced too..." Then he stopped and looked around with at the room's appearance. "W-What happened here?" Iruka hadn't been here since they all separated the day before, so he was surprised when he walked into find a whole new set of damages to the large house. But then he realized that Lee and Shikamaru had already told him about these. "Oh...nevermind."

"Iruka!" Naruto ran over to the man and hugged his waist tightly. "Your ok!"

"Ow." Iruka winced when Naruto's arm tightened over the wound on his left side.

Naruto quickly eased up."Sorry."

The snow covered man shook the cold substance off of his boots and loosened his jacket slightly. "Naruto, Sasuke, I was worried about you guys. I'm sorry I couldn't make it sooner but there was work." Iruka's tone hardened a bit when he spoke of that, rubbing his neck uneasily. "It's chaos out there."

Naruto looked at the man suspiciously, then quickly he unzipped Iruka's blue jacket and lifted up his shirt intrudingly, exposing the man's bandaged torso. The white fabric was soaked with red liquid. "Your in even worse shape then before."

"I'm fine, you look..." Iruka tilted his head to the side questioningly and examined Naruto, though cleaned up slightly wearing his favorite orange shirt baring the leaf insignia and black pants, with bruises and cuts from yesterday he looked..."You look rough."

Naruto smiled impishly and rubbed his nose with his index finger. "Heh Heh, it was worth it."

Iruka walked past the couch and into the more open area beyond it then he remembered. "Sasuke, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Sasuke said, a standard reply.

"Well at lest both of you are." Iruka folded his arms and studied the damages around him, "Oh man, I never thought they'd come here, If I had known that I would have stayed and-"

"Iruka." Sasuke passively lifted his hand and shook his head. "It's not your fault, Konohamaru would have run off anyway even if those guys hadn't taken him. He wanted to warn his grandfather... Have you heard anything about him?"

"No." Iruka shook his head disappointedly, "And I take it you guys didn't either...We'll I'm sure he's alright." Iruka slipped his hands into his pocket and let his head fall back absentmindedly, staring at the ceiling. Then a look of realization or remembrance came on to his face and he looked back down at Lee and Shikamaru. "Oh, Lee, Shikamaru, Gai is looking for you two."

"Gai-sensei? Is he alright?" Lee asked.

"You can go see for yourself, he's at home...You know the way don't you?" Iruka asked.

He didn't get an answer, that was never a good thing when answer wasn't given to a question like that. That made Lee worried. "Yeah, I know the way." Lee quickly stood to his feet and bolted hastily to the door with a pang of worry.

"Lee, wait up." Seeing that he was being left behind, Shikamaru quickly went after him.

Naruto and Sasuke watched the pair leave, still with a strong interest in how Lee was able to heal Sasuke. "Oh man, I should have gotten him to do Iruka." Naruto said, disappointed that he realized that too late.

"Do what?" Iruka sat down beside Naruto, feeling a small relief of the tension of trying not to aggravate the laceration on his stomach while standing.

"Lee can heal people, it's really cool." Naruto leaned forward and looked at Iruka's stomach with discontent. "Uh...Maybe you should go to the hospital, that looks really bad."

"Don't worry about me. Besides, all the hospitals in Konoha are full, There are people in far worse shape."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Wow Gai-sensei, I'm really sorry." Lee, the one one from the future, leaned against the open hood of Gai's car and stared at the contents. He was waring a thick green coat and matching hat heavy enough to bare the freezing air. Gai, being the car enthusiast he was, had taught Lee a considerable amount about them over the years, so Lee had a basic sense of what was wrong. "I can't believe all of this happened. I wish I could have helped."

"There was nothing you could have done." Gai reassured him. He set up in an empty parking garage not too far from his home, since his garage wasn't large enough to do everything he needed to. Lights were mounted on the ceiling running off of a small generator, but they were weak, too weak to really see anything in detail, so they also used flashlights. Gai had an abundance of tools with him, it looked as he was ready to take the whole car apart.

"Maybe." Lee sulked. "But next time I'm gonna be there."

"Don't feel bad, there was no way you could have done anything in that Blizzard." Gai shut the trunk of the stalled Car and walked over to the hood where Lee was waiting. He was visibly slower in his movements, his back and chest still felt burning hot, almost as if it was still on fire. They had stopped bleeding at lest. "Besides, it's not all bad."

"How can you say that?" Lee dropped his head with a deep sigh. "Look at what happened to you. Look at what happened to your car! Look at happened to everybody, what could possibly be good about this?"

"Well." Gai smiled lightly to himself. "I get to overhaul this car."

Lee lifted his head and looked at Gai questioningly, then he smiled. "Gai-sensei."

"At lest your optimistic."

Lee and Gai both looked back at the new voice, Kakashi stood there with a small smile on his face. He was bundled up this time, waring a rather thick coat and scarf. "Kakashi." Gai's smile grew larger. "Are you alright, you were in bad shape yesterday."

"Me? You were worse off then I was." Kakashi leaned against the driver side door , watching the other man with interest. "Should you really be moving around?"

"Sure, why not." Gai leaned against the grill of his car, pausing as Lee positioned the flashlight over him. "Besides, it hurts when I lay down."

"Hmm..." Kakashi began to wonder how much pain he'd caused him when he'd left him in the back seat yesterday. "I'm going to find Iruka, you need a balm or something." With that thought in mind, Kakashi walked outward in to the shadows and seem to all but disappear past the darkness.

"Hey Gai sensei." Lee lifted himself on to his toes and balanced over Gai's shoulder with the flashlight. "My Bike, when your finished with this can you help me fix it?"

"Sure Lee."

! - ! - !

"B-But I don't wanna go." Konohamaru shook his head stubbornly, but it didn't seem to matter either way.

Itachi stood over him with the same indifferent expression he always carried, none of Konohamaru's stubbornness seemed to be working. "You can't stay here."

"Why not?" Konohamaru pushed himself upright on the couch where he had fallen asleep, rubbing his eyes, already a tent of red from crying.

"Because you can't hide here." Itachi said, "This is my hiding place, not yours."

"But where am I suppose to go?" Konohamaru dropped his head and fell forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"You have friends." Itachi snorted. "Why don't you want to go back to them."

"It's not about them." Konohamaru wined. "I...I just don't wanna go back, I'm not ready yet."

"I know you, You'll never be ready."Itachi folded his arms. "People's reaction to what happened to you is a minor annoyance, you'll live."

Konohamaru's head sunk even farther down, he didn't want to leave, he really didn't want to leave. He liked Naruto and Sasuke, he really missed them, almost enough to go back. But here he felt safe, here he was allowed to dwell without interruption, Kisame was too prideful or embarrassed at the thought to really say anything to him and Itachi either didn't care or just didn't say anything.

Right now Konohamaru couldn't tell if Itachi just got sick of him or was making face up to the situation, Itachi was confusing that way, but it really didn't matter right now. Either way he was leaving and Konohamaru still didn't want to go. "Please...just a little longer?"

Itachi sighed, looking back down at the boy with indecision in his eyes. "...No, you can't keep running."

"..."

"Go home."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Lee, Shikamaru." Gai pushed himself up just enough to see over the elevated hood of his car, another smile coming to his face. "Your alright? I was worried about you guys."

"Gai-sensei!" Lee, the one from the past, promptly ran up to Gai and threw his arm around the man's waist in a tight hug. "Your alright! I heard you got hurt really bad! I was so worried!" Since Gai wasn't at home they looked around, and found him here.

Shikamaru scratched his head and looked away in with slight amusement. 'Lee..."

Gai winced, his smile weakening a bit. "Take it easy Lee, your stronger then you look." He said with slight pride as he planted his hands on the boy's chest and pried him away.

Lee promptly let go and stepped back, rubbing his head nervously. "Sorry...are you ok? You look like your in pain."

"Nothing but a flesh wound."Gai waved dismissatively, though the areas Lee had squeezed now held a throbbing pain from the pressure...

Lee naturally moved to his future counterpart. "Lee!"

"Lee!"

Shikamaru's amused smile grew into near laughter when he saw the two greet each other, he walked over to the two Lee's with a familiar sense of confusion growing in him. "It's been a while, or so it seems."

"Shikamaru." The future counterpart nodded in agreement. "I missed a lot, I wish I could have been there."

"Why weren't you." Shikamaru asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

"Nah, it's ok." The boy nodded, becoming a bit dishartened at the subject. "I had to go out of town, for a funeral."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Shikamaru said soberly.

Lee shook his head and lifted his hand dismissatively. "It's alright."

Gai pushed himself up off of the grill of the car he leaned against and knelt down beside a large tool box, digging through it carefully. Lee, the one from the past that is, studied every one of the man's movements carefully, and with all of his experience with battle he could tell when someone was in pain. "Gai-sensei, are you really ok?"

"Don't worry about me I'm- Eh?" Gai looked back in mild confusion when he felt the frozen air of the open parking garage hit his back as Lee abruptly lifted his shirt up from behind. "Wha? Lee what are you-"

"Oh...this looks pretty bad." Lee said, looking over the bruises and burns that covered Gai's back from the day before. "Hold on, let me try something." With a hopeful idea forming in his mind, Lee reached into his pocket and took out the sapling, slowly removing the glass case that covered it.

"What are you doing? Try what? Lee-" Gai flinched and bit down on his bottom lip when he felt a stinging pain from the pressure of Lee's hand pressing firmly against his back. "Owwww, Lee!"

"Please, just trust me." Lee slid the plant into his palm and winched when he felt the roots seeping past the bandages and into his palm, sliding inanely into the muscles and vines his arm. "It'll feel better, I promise."

Gai looked back over his shoulder and watched questioningly when he saw Lee's body start to glow with a green light. "?"

"Whoa!" His future counterpart looked on in awe, leaning over the other Lee's shoulder and looking over him with a child like interest. "That is so cool! What is that?"

Shikamaru wasn't quite as excited as the other Lee, but he still held the same awe he had when Lee first woke him up at 3 in the morning to show him his new ability to use Chakra. He still wasn't sure how it worked, which made it even more amazing to him. "Not completely sure yet."

"Ahhhaa..." Gai let out a clinched breath when he felt the pain fading as new cells replaced the damaged older ones. When Gai looked back again, all of the burns were completely gone. "Wow Lee, that's amazing, How did you do that?"

"I don't know, It just sorta came to me." The boy smiled, gently shifting the leaves on the plant in he was holding. There was something different about Gai's wound from Sasuke's, there were a lot of dead and damaged cells, he had to remove them to stimulate growth of the healthy ones. All of it seem to just come to him, when he touched Gai he felt what should have been there and what was, and could easily promote what should have been there.

Lee slipped his arm around Gai's waist and pressed his against the man's chest. Gai could clearly could see what was happening this time, "Wow..." Lee's fingers glowed the brightest out of all of his body in a radiant green, it was similar to watching a ripple through water, outward from the boy's fingers, healed, normal flesh spread, eating away the bruised, burned and scabbed skin. "Lee...this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen."

When he felt the task was done Lee let go of the older man and and let his body fall weakly on to his back with a tired breath.

"Uh, Lee?" Gai turned around and knelt on the cold concrete ground over the fallen boy. "Something wrong?"

"Nah...Just a little tired thats all." Lee had no idea doing this would tire him out so much until a sudden wave of fatigue washed over him. '?' He looked down curiously at at the plant in his hand, it was a slightly duller then before... He had expended all of it's Chakra, it was tired, so was also. It seemed manipulating plants was a lot less energy consuming then healing, good to know. "I'll...be fine."

Shikamaru and Lee's reincarnation stood over him, watching his eyes drift close and his consciousness fade more and more with each word he spoke until he blatenly fell asleep right there on the ground. The Lee who still remained awake poked at the other boy with his finger, but he got no response. "I guess something like that takes a lot out of you."

"I guess it does." Shikamaru agreed.

"Well after all that's happened I'm sure he deserves a rest." Gai delicately slipped his hands behind Lee's back and picked the boy up, setting him down softly against the wall in front of the car. Then with his new found health he stood up strait and stretched his arms above his head. "Alright, let's get to work."

Shikamaru sat down beside the sleeping Lee and watched the future counterpart and Gai.

Lee nodded."Hai, Gai-sensei."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"I'll be back." Zabuza said simply. He slipped on his black coat and zipped it up, reaching over to Kakashi's night stand and slipping a remote device into his pocket.

Kakashi leaned against the wall of his bed room and watched the other man with clear interest. "Where are you going?"

"Nowhere." Zabuza told him in his usual, private way. The man stood to his feet, looking around one last time to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything.

"Your pretty well equipped to be doing nothing." Kakashi smirked, "Would this thing happen to involve death? I see grenades."

Zabuza just smiled with amusement at Kakashi's accusation. "You worry too much."

"You didn't answer my question." Kakashi pointed out.

Zabuza leaned forward and pressed his lips to Kakashi's with a firm, quick kiss. Then he pulled back and began wrapping his familiar bandages around his mouth. "I guess you don't get an answer." He called back, opening the door, pausing to tighten the binding around his mouth and nose, and the shutting it behind him.

'I wonder what he's gonna do...'

! - ! - !

"Geez Sasuke." Naruto slumped down on the couch beside Sasuke, he let his head fall back against the cushion and folded his arms, a slight look of concentration coming on his face. "You have to lighten up."

Sasuke's eyes shifted toward Naruto with an acknowledging look, then focused back on the wall. "You reading to much into this."

"Come on Sasuke, you haven't moved or done anything all day." Naruto leaned towards Sasuke and nudged him slightly with his elbow.

"Look around Naruto, there's nothing to do." Sasuke replied.

"That's not what I mean." Naruto shook his head. "You've been sulking around all day."

"No I haven't." Sasuke denied.

"You can't keep worrying about him." Naruto finally said. "He's been through a lot worse."

"Your not worried about him?" Sasuke looked away, an accusing tone in his voice.

Naruto's eyes inanely looked in the opposite direction also. "Yeah but..."

"You can stop worrying then."

"?" Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other with slight confusion at the new voice, was that... both of them looked back and found themselves face to face with Konohamaru. The two nearly reeled back in surprise. "Konohamaru!"

Konohamaru usually would have smiled at their reaction, but he didn't quite feel like smiling lately. "I'm glad you guys are alright." He said genuinely.

"A-are you alright?" Naruto abruptly jumped over the couch and grabbed Konohamaru, throwing his arms rightly around the boy. "I was soooo worried about you!"

Konohamaru didn't try to pry him off, he just stood idly, happy to have someone he knew so truthfully worried about him. He'd grown to hate the fake compassion he always got when something happen, which seemed to be frequently throughout his life, from people whom he didn't know. Or just as bad a moment's sympathy, entailing that look of pity, people who just felt sorry for him. "Naruto."

Sasuke knelt down beside him, though he wasn't nearly as excited as Naruto, his eyes held a look of concern that was definitely notable. "Konohamaru, what happened?"

"Orochimaru..." Konohamaru stared at the ground, trying to force himself to speak about the what happened in a manner that would involve him remembering or thinking about as little of it as possible. "He...He..."

Sasuke laid a hand on Konohamaru's shoulder and shook his head, before the boy could even get a few words out he knew Konohamaru would have a problem with talking about this. "You don't have to say it." He didn't, Iruka had already told them the news about Konohamaru's grandfather.

"Yeah..." Naruto's embraced tightened around Konohamaru, he didn't know what else he could to do. "Just take it easy, you don't have to tell us right now."

"..." Konohamaru became quiet again, he didn't feel like talking, that was the only certainty he had about himself. Other then that he didn't know what he wanted to do, he wanted to be alone, he didn't want any attention, but even in that he had the desire not to be alone, to be around someone. He wanted to be close to his friends, he was always safe with them, he always was able to run away to them when ever he wanted to get away.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know." Konohamaru gently loosened himself from Naruto's embrace and sat down on the couch, right now he just wanted to do nothing, he was tired. He wasn't sleep nor was he fatigued, he was just...tired.

Naruto and Sasuke gave each other a silent look to each other and sat down beside him. "What should we do, he's really out of it..." Naruto leaned towards Sasuke and whispered quietly in his ear.

"I don't know." Sasuke whispered back, he wasn't good with this type of thing.

"Should we ask him what happened? Maybe if we ask him we could figure out... something." Naruto said hopefully.

Sasuke glanced over at Konohamaru staring lifelessly at the wall and studied him before responding. "...Nah, he's not ready yet."

"I guess." Naruto agreed, he didn't like the idea but he understood it.

Konohamaru felt a sense of content in himself to have friends like these. He wasn't deaf, he could hear them, and Naruto was never good at being inconspicuous. They were trying to find out what happened in the interest of helping him, not in the interest of curiosity like it was with other people. Every time something happened, every 2 years at lest or so it seemed, the pity sympathy came from people who only felt sorry for him at the moment or the concern that only came with the interest of getting something whether it be information or otherwise. That was never the case with Naruto and Sasuke.

"Naruto, Sasuke." Iruka pushed his way through the damaged front door rather loudly and came into the living room carrying a bag, a heavy one by the looks of it, and two cans of varnish. "It's gonna be a lot of work but me and Asuma...will..." Iruka's voice trailed off as soon as he saw a third body among Naruto and Sasuke, then dropped everything all together when he realized who it was. "Konohamaru!"

Iruka ran over to the boy and stood over him with an relief he couldn't describe. "Konohamaru! Are you alright? I was so worried about you? Where were you? I couldn't find you anywhere yesterday! I-"

"Iruka calm down." Sasuke said, trying to ease the man's frantic words.

"Yeah, he's alright..." Naruto nodded."...more or less."

Iruka rested his hand on his chest and took a deep calming breath, forcing his racing mind to steady. "Sorry, I'm just so glad he's safe." Iruka looked among the couch for a place to sit down, though there was no room left between the three boys for him to fit comfortably. So without a second thought he slipped his hands under Konohamaru's arms and lifted the small body up, Before Konohamaru could say anything he found himself in Iruka's lap with the man's arms firmly around him.

And he had no protest to it at all, he just curled up in the man's hold and laid his head on Iruka's chest It made him feel better, it made him feel just as safe as when Kisame had done it. All he wanted to do now was lay in this embrace. 'Iruka...'

"Konohamaru." Iruka looked down at the boy, speaking in a soft, much calmer voice that only he seemed capable of making. It was almost like one of a parent, something Konohamaru was sorely laking right now. "What's wrong?"

"My grandfather is dead." Konohamaru spat bitterly, a strong sadness making his voice shaky when he spoke about it.

"No, I'm not talking about that." Iruka said, having some knowledge of something deeper.

Naruto leaned forward and looked directly at the man with an interest, his grandfather was just murdered in front of him by his decidedly worst enemy, what else could be worst then that?

"What are you thinking about?" Iruka asked.

"My grandfather is dead." Konohamaru repeated.

Maybe Iruka was reading too much into it, what else would Konohamaru be thinking about?

"...And my mom's dead, and my Grandfather, and Ebisu." Konohamaru started, maybe there was more to this then Naruto and Sasuke first thought. "That bastard Orochimaru...he keeps killing every body...and I'm afraid..."

"Your afraid of Orochimaru?" Iruka asked.

"I'm afraid...that he's gonna keep killing everybody." Konohamaru curled up miserably farther into a ball and wrapped his arm around Iruka's, hugging it close. "He keeps going after you guys, and I'm afraid...I'm afraid he's going to kill you guys too." Tears formed in his eyes and a small sob force it's way through his throat, he couldn't stop himself from crying at the thought. "I-I don't want you guys to die!"

"Shhh..." Iruka buried his hand in Konohamaru's hair and gently rubbed the area soothingly, it seemed to have the desired effect. "Don't worry about that, we're not going to die."

"I didn't think my grandfather could..." Konohamaru looked up at the man with teary eyes, his voice almost pleading for what he spoke of not to be real. "They tried to kill him before, I was there 2 of the times. He was really tough for an old guy, I...I thought that he would get through this, just like before..."

"I'm sorry..." Iruka sighed. "But it's going to be alright, it wont happen to us, I promise."

"Ebisu tried to protect me." Konohamaru clinched his eyes shut and curled even farther as if trying to hide. "He protected me and he got killed!"

"..."

"Maybe if I get away from you guys for a while you have a better chance." Konohamaru sighed. "I...feel like everybody around me dies."

"I'm know it's hard." Iruka said. "But... you can't think like that. I'll only make it harder for you."

"I know but... I can't." Konohamaru sighed.

"Yeah, it's really hard at first but it'll get better." Iruka told him. "I felt just like that after my parents died, and when I thought like that it only made things harder."

Konohamaru sniffled slightly and lifted his head slowly, just enough to see the man's eyes. "What happened to your parents?"

Iruka looked down at the boy questioningly, he hadn't expected that question. "Hmm?"

"Yeah Iruka." Naruto chimed in argeeingly. "What happened, you never told me."

"I know." That's what Iruka was going for.

"Iruka, can you tell me?" Konohamaru asked.

Well, the inquiry had stopped Konohamaru from crying, Iruka guessed he could relive that memory if it would help him. "Alright...well...where do I start..." Iruka paused for a moment to think about it until he had his bearings. " Oh yeah... it was about 18 years ago."

! - ! - !


	26. Chapter 26:Fireworks

Chapter 26: Fireworks

"What the hell..." Naruto made his way carefully down the stairs, even in his sleepy state he was cautious not to step on any of the upturned and broken parts, or any places that didn't look stable enough to hold his weight. He wasn't sure what time it was, all he knew was that the sun was up, the bright light made him rub his blurry eyes that couldn't quite handle the brightness it brought yet.

Naruto stood at the bottom of the stairs, dressed in nothing more then the white pants to his night clothing, which he started to notice when he felt the chill of the Uchiha house's lower level. "What's all the noise?" He looked around, awakened by an entanglement of sounds he couldn't completely identify.

He found Iruka on the ground behind the couch with some strips of wood, which Naruto guess the cutting of said wood was all the noise. "Oh Naruto, your awake."

"How could I not be!" Naruto scratched his head with clear aggravation. "You make enough noise to wake the dead! What are you doing!"

"This house is in pretty bad shape." Iruka said, holding a power saw over a damage area of the wooden floor boards to square out the wrecked area. "It's not really safe, if you and Sasuke are gonna stay here then it really needs some work...a lot of work..."

"Oh." Naruto understood, he just wished Iruka could have started at a not so early time. '?' He was looking at Iruka, so what was the other pounding sound he was hearing? "Is that-"

"Yeah, Asuma's helping too."

"What about your plane?" Naruto asked, "I thought you were working on that."

"Yeah well, I can take a break from that for a while." Iruka turned off the rather loud saw and set it aside. "It'll be quicker to finish this if we really work at it." Iruka picked up one of the wooden strips and set it over the hole.

"..." Naruto lifted his hand to the back of his neck and took another look around the room. There had to be at lest several more spots in the floor where the floorboards were torn up like this, some of them worst then the one Iruka was working on now. Not to mention the stairs, the stairs were barely standing as it was, he could remember when Lee got thrown through them during the fight with that demon thing, whatever it had been. He couldn't even remember where all the other holes had come from. "Your plane must be in really bad shape."

"Heh heh." Iruka laughed a little, reaching out for a nail sitting near by. "Don't worry, we'll finish."

Naruto started to realize how much work this house would need. "Um...Iruka?"

"Yes?"

"Maybe..." Naruto slipped his hands into his pockets and stared at the wall separating the dining room. "Maybe you should finish your plane first instead."

"What? Why?" Iruka looked back at him curiously.

"Well, it's really important to you." Naruto said. "And...you were really sad when it got messed up by Kabuto. I know you want to fix, so you should go do that first."Naruto started to feel guilty, he never realized how much Iruka did for him until now. How much of burden he must have been on the man. Iruka had been working on that plane everyday for nearly 3 months, it was Iruka's most prized possession. And now he wasn't, because he'd stopped to work on this house for his and Sasuke's sake, which, let's face it, wasn't an easy job.

Iruka paused, taking a break from his work to look at Naruto fully. "Why would I do that?"

"You should do it first, we'll be fine." Naruto told him. "I don't wanna hold you back."

"Naruto." Iruka smiled, rubbing Naruto's head softly. "Your more important, besides I wanna do this."

"Yeah but..." Naruto looked away uneasily. "You don't have too, it's kinda my fault it got this way in the first place."

"How did you get an idea like that?" Iruka asked.

"I was the one that wanted to leave, if I hadn't gone then Orochimaru would have never gotten us, and you would have never had to come out there to get us."

Iruka smiled again, his hand resting on Naruto's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault, and I wanna help, so don't worry about it. This will be done before you know it."

"..." Naruto still couldn't shake the feeling though... "Sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

"...Nothin'"

! - ! - !

Three days, three whole days.

When Konohamaru thought about that time frame surprisingly the first thing that came to his mind wasn't when his Grandfather's death happened. No, it was when he finally let someone find him, and by someone he meant White house security, or more accurately the National guard stationed around it. They had to be the longest, worst three days of his life, enough to make him want to stay hidden.

He blamed Iruka and his story, that's what made him stop running away. What a bad move that was.

By the time he turned up, the power was back on, at lest to those who hadn't had power lines knocked down by the storm. And apparently the news stations had power too, or were just very persistent because of course they were there to capture his return for anyone who actually had power to see it, and on tape for those who didn't, they'd see it eventually. And with all of Konoha now aware that the president's very Grandson that had been missing for 2 days and feared abducted again was safe, Konohamaru dropped off the radar for the second time.

No, it wasn't Iruka he blamed, he blamed Itachi for kicking him out. If he could have stayed with them he wouldn't have had to gone through all of this in the first place.

This time when he dropped off the radar it was because of...well, it was a lot of different groups actually, all of them asking him questions, so many questions... He was sure one of them was the secret service, and he was also kinda sure the FBI was involved, he could guess the department of homeland security, the rest of it was like an obscured blur, all of it was the same. No matter how nice all of those damn people were, and how damn concerned they were, they all handled him. He couldn't do anything, they stuck him some place that he, he didn't even know where he was, for his own safety and security reasons. And every day they took him to a place that looked _a lot_ like an interrogation room, and they asked him questions, sometimes in that room they stashed him in when they weren't questioning him started to feel like an interrogation room, or a prison cell.

No, he blamed Orochimaru. All of this was his fault, everything was his fault. Everything that had gone wrong in his life was Orochimaru's fault!

And they asked him what happened, over and over, every single detail down to what people he passed on the street. They asked him his life story, his friends, everything he ever looked at twice, he was sure by day three he was telling them things they didn't ask, he barely knew what was happening himself. And finally it was over, but they would watch him, for his own safety. Because as it turned out, he knew things, important things, things people like the government didn't like people knowing.

And Orochimaru knew he knew these things, and they knew Orochimaru knew that he knew, the only thing neither of the two sides knew was how Konohamaru found these things out. Which Konohamaru was sure they asked him, he didn't know if he gave them an answer or not, he was just so tired... He even fell asleep a few times during questioning, and he had strange dreams. Oddly enough he dreamt that he was in the same room being questioned, but he saw Zabuza indifferent places, like he wanted him to see him, just not everyone else.

But of course he woke up and found himself still being questioned.

Then it was over, and he resurface, they finally let him go. And just as soon it seemed everyone had power, and TVs, or some form of news media, they'd been talking about what happened for all 72 hours since power was restored. Thats when Konohamaru realized something, as he was swamped with more cameras and reporters then he could count, he didn't hate these reporters as much as he thought when he was there during the first attempt on his Grandfather's life, and the death of his parents, and after he was taken by Orochimaru. He just hated the attention.

So now he stood, completely alone in his Grandfather's old office, still a crime scene. The first time he was allowed to be alone in days was here, they owed him this much. "Grandpa..." He could see everything just as it had been the day the man died, walking around the oval office with slow steps until he came to his Grandfather's old desk or what it used to be at lest.

"..." He silently knelt down over the half ruined furniture about to be replaced and pried open one of the cabinets still remotely in one peace. And he found what he was looking for still in place, a little orange bottle with a prescription in his name labeled on to it. He stared at it, he could practically hear his grandfather's voice now

_"Just because you feel better doesn't mean you are."_

"Yeah grandpa, ok." He sighed, holding the half full bottle of pills which he still thought were too large for him and awkward to swallow. "But they taste like crap, I don't want them."

_"Konohamaru, your gonna have to learn to be more responsible. I'm not always going to be here to make sure you take these."  
_

"Yeah, I guess so Grandpa." Konohamaru pushed down on the top with his opposite palm and twisted it counter-clockwise, child proof cap my ass. Then he poured one of the pills in his hand, staring at the gray tablet, but not with the same weariness he had when he looked at it before. A deadened demeanor was about him now, his eyes with out emotion as he had a slightly hallucagenic experience. With a deep breath Konohamaru slid the pill into his mouth. "They're too big, what if I choke? Huh?"

_"Your just saying that to get out of it, you'll live."_

"Alright, I'll take the damn things..."

_"It better not be under your tongue again, swallow it."_

"It's gone." Konohamaru said aloud, wincing as he felt the large, hard object going down his throat with out any water. "See, I'm not a little kid anymore grandpa, I can take it on my own."

He didn't hear anything this time.

"Grandpa..." Konohamaru looked around the room one last time, he couldn't help seeing how it used to be, he could just imagine everything in place and Sarutobi sitting behind that desk, angry at him for doing something stupid or trying to get away from Ebisu as he walked to the door. And as he stopped, slipping the bottle into his pocket and standing in the frame where two large oak doors once stood.

He couldn't help thinking that he never wanted to come into this room again.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"It's really coming together Gai-sensei." Lee, the one from the future which Gai so affectionally called his Lee, stood up strait and took a step back from the open hood of the heavily damaged green car. He wiped the beginnings of sweat from his forehead and leaned against the wall, he had to admit this was hard work, he didn't get how Gai could do this so much. "I can't believe we did so much in so little time."

"Thank you guys for the help, I never would have gotten so much done if you hadn't been helping me." Gai pushed himself upright from over he hood of the car, looking at the clean, chrome steel of new parts and cleaned old ones. "Alright Lee, do you remember how I showed you?"

Lee, the one from the past, stuck his head out of the driver's side window far enough to see Gai with out being obstructed by the lifted hood. "Yes Gai-sensei."

"Alright, start it up."

Lee nodded and pushed himself back into the driver's seat, then with an anxious excitement he clinched the steering wheel tightly with one hand and took hold of the key mounted in the ignition with the other. He liked this, the idea of being in control of a machine this powerful, that could go this fast, he could just imagine it, if it that much of a rush being a passenger, what must it feel like driving? "Alright Gai-sensei!" Lee forced himself to focus, he turned the key and heard the loud sound of a starting engine and more parts then he could name coming to life.

Gai loved that sound, he could give a hundred different explanations why. "Great!"

"We did it." Lee leaned over the open hood of the car and stared at the parts inside quickly coming up to speed. "It's working."

"Now all we have to do is repair the body damage..." Gai slammed the hood shut and peered over the running vehicle and began surveying the rest of the damage that needed to be repaired This was gonna cost so much money...

Lee unzipped his coat and slipped the heavy fabric off, feeling the chill of cool air rushing to meet him with a cold breeze that blew through the open parking garage. His excitement started to waver a little with discomfort. "Is it just me or is it warmer out here?"

"Yes, it is warmer." Gai kelt down beside a red tool box sitting next to his leg and began putting things away, this was all he could do for the moment. "Our climate has been strange since the storm, Konoha's about to go on a warming trend." Gai said. "It is spring after all."

While Lee and Gai finished cleaning up at the front of the car, and the other Lee sat waiting in the driver's seat and didn't seem to want to move, Shikamaru had been coaxed into doing something. He was rummaging through Gai's trunk, cleaning out the snow and broken metal to salvage what he could. He'd found nothing of interest yet... "..." Until he came across a rather large, blunt weapon. "Uh...Gai." Shikamaru slipped his hands under the M50 rocket launcher and pulled it out of the trunk, it was heavy and oversized in his arms, he felt smaller then he was holding it.

"Yes Shikamaru?"

"What do I do with _this_?"

Gai leaned over slightly from where he was keeling on the ground "Oh that..." Gai looked up thoughtfully "I have to reload that... Just set it down somewhere."

Shikamaru nearly dropped the weapon, something like this made him admire Gai's strength, there was no way he could hold it long enough to use it. In fact, he started to wonder what this weapon even did. With that thought in the back of his mind he began rummaging through the trunk again, he'd cleared away most of the snow so it wasn't much left. '?' Something did catch his eye this time though... Shikamaru leaned forward and began digging through the debris, tossing aside broken scraps of metal that found their way inside, moving closer and closer to a shining object reflecting off of the dim light.

"Hmm..." He pulled it out, cuffing the mid-sized object in his hands, it was still fine, relatively undamaged. "Hey Gai, what is this?" He held it out to his side just far enough for Gai to see.

"Huh? Oh, it's a camcorder. It records video." Gai told him.

Shikamaru looked over the device curiously, turning it over in his hands like a child who'd just gotten something he never saw before. "How?"

Lee, the one from the future, walked to Shikamaru's side and took the camera out of his hands. "Here, like this." Lee opened the screen on the side of the relatively small device and took the cover off of the lense. "Ah, looks like there is still some charge left on the battery." Lee turned on the power and handed it back to Shikamaru.

His face grew some interest to it as he watched the blank screen turned blue, then showed an image of the ground where the lens was pointed. "Interesting." Shikamaru lifted up the camera and slowly rotated it around, "...wow..."

Gai shut the tool box and latched it closed, watching Shikamaru, he didn't think he'd ever seen the boy take so much interest in anything. "Like it? If you want it you can keep it."

"Really?" Shikamaru tilted the screen slightly, then looked over the device again, it was a fascinate machine but... "I couldn't take this, I wouldn't know what to do with it." Shikamaru said.

"Nah, keep it." Gai said discardingly, "I'm sure a smart guy like you will find something to do with it."

Yeah, like figure out how it worked. "Thank you Gai."

At which point, a completely oblivious Lee from the past stuck his head out of the window, and abruptly shouted out "Gai-Sensei! Can you teach me how to drive?"

Shikamaru nearly dropped the camera when he heard that. "L-Lee!" It was hard enough being in a car with Gai, and now he'd have to be there with someone 10 times more impulsive. "I'm walking back."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Asuma trudged tiredly trough the doorway of the kitchen, covered in a splattered grayish substance that could be any number of things. With a tired sigh he sat down on the couch, "Man this is hard work. Maybe this house just has bad luck."

Iruka, currently digging out the debris from the hole in the center of the stair's foundation. "Bad luck?"

"Yeah, Bad luck. More things happened here in a little under 3 months then 5 years in Naruto's apartment." Asuma said. Even as he spoke his mind focused on the repairs that needed to be done, like what he would fill these walls with. "Bad luck."

"That's one way to look at it." Iruka pulled the last of the broken debris from the hole and set it aside, he'd have to build some support for these three stairs the whole spanned. "I wouldn't call it bad luck...just an unfortunate string of circumstances."

Asuma smirked with amusement, "Heh, right."

"Hey Asuma." Iruka stood up strait and stretched his arms above his head lightly. "Didn't you do stuff like this in collage?"

"General contractor." Asuma nodded.

"Looks like I picked the right guy to work with."

Naruto came rather loudly to the head of the stairs, dressed in pair of overalls and a white hat to match, his usual orange Konoha shirt underneath. "Iruka, Asuma." Naruto jumped over the railing and landed sloppily beside Iruka, completely avoiding the stairs.

"Naruto?"

"I'm here to help." Naruto announced.

Iruka and Asuma looked at each other, then back at Naruto. "Uh...That's alright Naruto, we can handle this." Asuma said, "You don't have to bother."

"I wanna help." Naruto said, and he did. It was the lest he could do, "I wanna help."

Asuma and Iruka looked at each other again, and Iruka just shrugged. "Alright Naruto." Iruka agreed, if he wanted to help, then he could help, what could it hurt?

! - ! - !

"Zabuza?"

Kakashi had been sticking home more then usual for the past 3 days, this was the place Zabuza would probably come first. It was around the second day that he realized the only reason he waited here was because he was worried, about what Zabuza probably did. Which could be any number of things, none that came to mind were good.

Kakashi pushed his legs over the side of his bed and sat up when he saw the man walk through the door, slightly more equipped then when he left. "Gearing up for a small war?"

"Heh." Zabuza unzipped and removed a black vest he had on now, filed with any number of explosives, setting it carefully aside. "Miss me?"

"Of course, I couldn't go another day without hearing that cynical voice of yours." Just with a quick over look Kakashi gained a good idea of everything the man had on him, who knew what other things Zabuza had stashed away. "What did you do?"

"Research." Zabuza said simply. "Orochimaru has friends."

"Great, you don't let up do you? A mad bomber is nothing if not persistent." Kakashi knew this couldn't be good. "What are you talking about?"

"You guys don't pay attention very well, I was wondering how Orochimaru keeps using your own property against you." Zabuza smirked deviantly under the bandages covering his mouth."No wonder, he has friends in considerable places, you'd be amazed at what you learn if you stick around a few places when they question the president's grandson."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, "What did you do?" Kakashi asked expectantly.

"Nothing." Zabuza sat down on the bed and laid back, resting his arms behind his head.

"Wrong question, what are you going to do?" Kakashi sat down beside him, folding his arms and looking down at him chastisingly.

"You know me well." Zabuza just laughed with mild amusement.

"Tch. A blind person in a coma could read you." Kakashi sighed and shook his head. "Does everything you do have to involve someone dieing, it must get boring."

"Are you saying that to stop me?"

"In part." Kakashi shrugged. "I'm sure you could find something more productive to do with your talents."

"Are you seriously saying that too me?" Zabuza seemed to find even more amusement in that. "Like what?"

"I'm sure you'd find something if you tried." Kakashi said, he slipped his hands behind him and stood up. "Just don't kill anyone."

"That's the problem with you Kakashi, you could be so much stronger if you would stop thinking so weakly." Zabuza snorted with distaste.

"I'm not that interested in being strong." Kakashi said discardingly, "It's not that important."

"Tch. Not important, that's what I'm talking about. " Zabuza sat up strait. "Strength is everything, you know it and I know it, strength will get you power, and if you don't have power you don't matter in this world, your nothing but a weakling."

"Is that how you see it?" Kakashi laughed this time, "I don't want power, I don't need it. And my only interest in strength is to just have enough to protect the people around me."

"I don't get it, How did someone like you get to be so strong ... "Zabuza said discardingly.

"Then there must be something to my methods then, don't you think?" Kakashi began rummaging around his room, he had a feeling he'd need his bomb detector.

"..." Zabuza shifted his eyes away. "Why would you want to stay weak all of your life? It's stupid. Don't you have any sense of wanting to do something with yourself?"

"Wanting power and being greedy, believe it or not, are two different things. Which one do you think you are?" Kakashi asked sarcasticly.

"Right, whatever." Zabuza looked away, but he still had to wonder about what Kakashi was saying, why was he so strong for a person that didn't want power. "Oh, looking for this?" Zabuza reached into his pocket and pulled out Kakashi's bomb detector, lifting it from him a day before incase Kakashi decided to follow him. He tossed it to the man, who looked down at it questioningly. "I already planted the bombs." he said almost boredly.

"Your a bastard, you know that right?" Kakashi began pressing a combination of buttons, until a small beep could be heard. "This is pointless, who ever your doing this to-"

"They're not on remote, it's a timer, I couldn't stop it from here if I tried." Zabuza seemed to ignore him.

"Zabuza." Kakashi didn't have time to be mad, he knew Zabuza wouldn't tell him where they were. "I don't get you, you probably could find something actually good to do with skills like yours. It's a much better thing to do with yourself." Kakashi looked down at the device in his hand and ran out of the door. "We'll settle this later."

"I'll bet." He lied, he didn't have any bombs set, anywhere, yet. But...he had something to think about now.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"You guys are really getting a lot done." Sasuke was genuinely impressed when he looked around the living room, most of the floor boards had been repaired, and the room was starting to look a lot cleaner.

Iruka knelt down by the wall holding the door to the dining room, prying up floor boards that had been crushed. He didn't even want to ask how, he didn't think he could stand the thought. And Asuma was working on the hole in the stairs' foundation, he seemed to know what he was doing. And lastly Naruto was helping Iruka.

"Yeah, it's not as bad as it looks, maybe a few days we can finish this." Asuma said. "If we work at it."

"Where are you going?" Naruto looked up at Sasuke, who was much more dressed then when he last saw him.

"I'm going to find Konohamaru." Sasuke said, the worry clearly present in his stoic voice."He's been gone for a while."

"Worried about him Eh?" Naruto said accusingly, looking back down at his work.

"Shut up dobe."

"Just saying."

Sasuke zipped up his coat and silently walked away before anyone else had a chance to comment on his actions, that was the last thing he felt like dealing with.

"He's worried alright." Asuma said, slipping his hand in his pocket and drawing out a cigarette, the first one he had in days actually. "You know Naruto, if you want too, you can go with him." he offered.

Naruto didn't respond right away, but from the look on his face they could see he was seriously thinking about it. But ultimately he shook his head and declined, "Nah... I wanna help."

Asuma and Iruka gave each other silent glances, both with the same thoughts. Iruka didn't understand it, Naruto was obviously worried about Konohamaru just like Sasuke was, it wasn't like him to pass up an opportunity to check up on him to do something like work. "Are you sure?" Iruka asked. "Because we can handle this ourselves."

"Yes, I'm sure." Naruto said, but with some detectable aggravation coming into his words and growing on his face. "I'm gonna help."

Neither Iruka nor Asuma could quite understand what Naruto was getting angry about, but they let him be, what else could they do?

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Sasuke didn't particularly hate snow, he was actually comfortable with it.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and let his head drop slightly, he kinda liked snow, and he liked the cold. Naruto always complained about them both, Naruto was much more suited for summer and 90 degree weather Konoha occasionally had. He on the other hand hated the heat and humidity summer brought, he'd rather freeze in 5 degree climates then over heat in 95. He'd rather be stuck in a blizzard then be soaked with the heavy rains and lighting of a summer storm.

Sasuke took a deep breath and looked up at the clear, blue sky patchy with white clouds. The air was clear and cold, and he easily took this over the hot and humid air of the summer that was hard to breath. Konohamaru seemed to take after his liking of winter too, the boy seemed to hate being hot, especially in humid weather, and loved snow. Even when it got so high he could barely walk in it.

'Konohamaru...' Sasuke looked strait ahead, today he could see as far as his vision could reach. It was a completely clear day, and much warmer then it had been during that blizzard, well above freezing. Which was the only time he hated snow, when it started to melt. Especially when it was high, it became, for lack of a better word, slushy and hard to walk in.

Sasuke paused and looked around him, finding himself standing at a familiar intersection. "Hmm..." There were a lot more people out, the numbers steadily rising to normal standards everyday...

'!' Sasuke flinched when he felt something... someone run into his side hard enough to make him stumbled off balance and fall too the ground. "What the hell!"

He winced and looked around for the culprit, he found himself staring down at none other then Konohamaru who was laying flat on his back. "Ow, Ow..." Konohamaru clinched is head sat upright. "Oh I'm sorry I was...Sasuke?" Konohamaru was surprised to run in to him of all people.

"Konohamaru? Watch where your going." Sasuke stood up, wiping away the half melted snow that suck to him. "What are you running for?"

"Sorry, it's slippery out here." Konohamaru apologized, taking Sasuke's out stretched hand and pulled himself on to his feet. "What are you doing out here?"

Sasuke slipped his hands in his pocket and looked away indifferently, Konohamaru seemed alright, it didn't look like their was a reason for him to come looking for him at all. "Nothing really."

Konohamaru shook his head, dislodging the snow that had gotten stuck in the spiky brown hair. "Well then... can I come with you?" Konohamaru asked, looking up at him with surprisingly pleading eyes. "There's nothing else to do around here."

Alright, maybe Konohamaru wasn't as alright as he first thought. "Yeah, whatever." Sasuke passively agreed.

! - ! - !

Sasuke didn't like the idea of wondering around without a destination, especially in the slushy mess outside. So he stopped at Naruto's favorite place to eat, a restaurant specializing in Ramen.

"Why are we here?" Konohamaru followed Sasuke over to a small table near the counter and sat down on the opposite side.

"I owe you a bowl of natto, remember." Sasuke replied.

There was an awkward silence that stretched between them, and Konohamaru couldn't help but remember that day when he wanted to be mad at Sasuke for what he did. But he couldn't stay away, and Konohamaru ended up at Sasuke's doorstep. He remembered it...their silence was only broken when they ordered, Konohamaru getting his customary bowl of natto, and Sasuke simply ordering tea.

So they sat, Konohamaru staring down at the bowl in front of him while Sasuke just stared at the window. Finally Sasuke built up the nerve to speak. "Konohamaru."

"Hmm?" paused from eating and swallowed. "What?"

"Are you ok?" Sasuke asked. He never saw Konohamaru look so...normal after something bad happened to him, which honestly was more often then it should have been.

"Yeah, why?" Konohamaru looked down at the bowl again and began eating.

"Because your...Your." What was the word for it? He couldn't just say I'm worried about you because your acting normal. "You just off."

"I don't know, I guess." Konohamaru shrugged, thinking nothing of it.

"So, how have you been since...your grandfather died?" Sasuke asked reluctantly. "In fact I haven't seen you at all since that day you showed up at my house. Where were you?"

"Oh that." Konohamaru showed some emotion now, narrowing his eyes with annoyment and eating a little faster. "They stuck me away for some security reasons, that's what they told me."

"They?" Sasuke would have asked who "they" were, but he didn't want to get into it. He was sure that Konohamaru, being the president's grandson, knew just about every department in the government and it's purpose. And with a matter like this, several had to want to speak with him. "They asked you questions for that long?"

"Yeah, the same ones, over and over!" Konohamaru grunted. "All of these different guys kept asking me what the guy before them asked me, I don't see why they didn't just all ask me at once."

"What did they ask you?" Sasuke said, taking some interest.

"Everything." Konohamaru took a large spoonful of the warm soupy food sitting in front of him, all of this annoyment must have made him hungry. "They asked me what happened, they practically asked me my whole life story. They even asked me about you guys."

"Really? What?"

"I don't know, I think I fell asleep on that part. I guessed they wanted to figure out if one of you guys could have been connected to Orochimaru, since he's after me and all." Konohamaru narrowed his eyes even more. "I wonder where they got _that_ idea."

'I'm never gonna live that down am I?' Sasuke sat back in his chair and took a sip of the tea sitting in front of him. "..." He didn't respond, what could he say?

Konohamaru paused, looking up at Sasuke somewhat worriedly. "You...You didn't...did you? I mean you'd...you'd admit something like that."

"No." Sasuke said firmly. He guessed he couldn't really be mad at the question, he had it coming.

And Konohamaru believed him, he always believed him. "I don't know, they're saying somebody in Konoha is leaking information, infact they say there are a lot of people working for Orochimaru in Konoha."

"That's obvious." Sasuke snorted.

"Well it's over now, they didn't wanna let me leave, I guess I know too much."

"What could you possibly know?"

"...A lot of things." Konohamaru told him. "I watched a lot, I remember some things my parents used to talk about, and some things my grandfather used to talk about with them, since they were in the army and all. Other stuff I heard when people talked to my Grandpa. I know stuff."

Maybe people didn't pay attention to Konohamaru like they should have, who would have guessed that Konohamaru payed attention to all of those things. Sasuke didn't, but it turned out Orochimaru did. "I never knew... So if you know so much, why are you here?"

"They couldn't keep me forever, so they let me go, but they wanted somebody to watch me." Konohamaru smirked impishly. "Ebisu was 10 times better then those guys, I got away from them easy... So, can I stay with you guys for a while?"

He was fine, but he was avoiding his security, he only did that when he didn't want to deal with the attention... Maybe something really was wrong with Konohamaru. "If they asked about us, don't you think they know where we are?"

"No." Konohamaru's smirk grew into a large smile. "They don't know where you guys are now, since Naruto's old home is gone."

"Well, I guess so then." Sasuke folded his arms and closed his eyes thoughtfully. He did seem normal, but still...

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

He couldn't believe it, maybe this time Zabuza had gotten the better of him.

Kakashi spent the better part of the day looking around for the bombs Zabuza had planted, checking just about every suitable target someone like Zabuza would target. But it quickly became more strategic then that, Kakashi began thinking as much like Zabuza as possible,

Which turned out to be harder then it sounded for two people who had an odd set of similarities.

Kakashi finally started to think about what had been said to him, it wasn't where Zabuza would target, but who. He said Orochimaru had connections in Konoha, who? The only possible way to figure something like that out is through an investigation, he didn't really have that much time.

It looked like this time that Zabuza finally beat him.

'Damnit Zabuza.' Kakashi looked around downtown Konoha, staring suspiciously at the snow capped buildings with bomb detector in hand. It was late, at lest if he didn't find Zabuza's bombs in time then the chance he'd actually hit anyone was low. In fact it was past midnight, who would actually be here this late? Well... maybe a lot more people then normal considering all the events that transpired as of late.

Maybe he'd just hit the important people and not the civilians.

Maybe he knew Zabuza better then he thought. But where? Where would be the places people would most likely be working late?

'Wait...'

! - ! - !

The power was on again, Naruto was thankful for that, because it would have been really hard doing this in the dark.

He didn't know how late it was, he completely lost track of time. Iruka and Asuma had left, a few hours ago. He was sure Iruka was at the hanger, working on his plane, it should be easier for him now that there was power, and with Asuma helping. Naruto hoped it was going well for him.

He was alone, the house was empty, and he didn't really know where Sasuke was. Naruto was crouched down on the ground with the nail gun Iruka left behind for tomorrow's work. Nailing down the new strips of oakwood to the ground as neatly as he could manage over the crushed areas that had been torn up and squared out.

He was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't notice Asuma slip inside of the home and shut the door behind him.

Asuma was almost surprised to see Naruto here alone, still working. "Naruto."

Naruto flinched at the sudden voice disturbing the quiet, "A-Asuma!" Naruto dropped the wood he was attempting to put into place and looked over his shoulder with a hard glare. "Don't sneak up on me like that, your just as bad as Kakashi."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Asuma smirked with amusement, hiding his small bit of laughter behind the cigarette in his mouth.

"Your even worse, that wasn't funny." Naruto rolled his eyes, reaching down to pick up the wood he'd dropped and go about the tedious process of realigning it into place.

"Why are you still working, it's past midnight, shouldn't you be in bed or something?" Asuma folded his arms and looked around at the repairs that had been done since he left. He had to admit, Naruto learned this type of thing quickly, he was actually pretty good at it.

"It's that late?... Hey, why are you here so late? Weren't you helping Iruka?" Naruto asked, forcing his hand to stay steady as he held the wooden board in place and reached for the nail gun. He almost had it, but Asuma reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"It's late, just leave it for now." Asuma said.

"Nah, I'll go much quicker if-"

"No, really, leave it for now." Asuma said seriously. "I think we need to talk."

Naruto set the nail gun down and turned around, looking up fully at the man. "Why?"

Asuma ran a hand uneasily through his hair and turned around, walking back towards the door. He was never good with these types of things. "Just follow me."

Naruto curiously stood up, feeling the stiffness that had built of from being crouched down so long. So he didn't question Asuma, there was a rather uncomfortable sense of relief that came over him from stretching out his legs again, but a much needed one he was happy to get. He was a little surprised though when Asuma led him outside, immediately feeling the distinct chill hanging in the air.

It seemed almost bright out here, Naruto had gotten so used to the house, this whole are being shrouded in darkness. With the illumination of the street lights he could see most things that mattered, it was still oddly quiet here. It was always quiet around here, considering all of the houses were empty and had been since the Uchiha family was killed off. At this rate the whole area would remain this way since Sasuke owned all of the property now and hadn't thought about selling it. Well, co-owner, Iruka had to take ownership of it until Sasuke was legal age by becoming their legal guardian.

Asuma leaned against the wall beside the door, watching Naruto sit down on the stairs. "Well?" Naruto asked. "What is it, it's freezing out here."

Asuma slipped the cigarette from his mouth, softly expelling a cloud of gray smoke made even deeper by his visible breath in the cold air. "Oh, I'm sorry about that." Asuma unzipped the black jacket he wore and slipped out of it, setting it on Naruto's shoulders. "Well, I need to talk to you."

Naruto didn't decline the warm fabric, he barely felt the cold in it. "About what?"

"About you actually, what's with you?" Asuma placed the cigarette back into the side of his mouth and pushed his hands into his pocket.

"What do you mean, I'm fine." Naruto said. He tilted his head back and stared at the sky, he could see the stars better here then he could back at his apartment, it was darker here.

"Maybe, or maybe you aren't."

Naruto took a quick glance back at him before returning his eyes to the stars. "What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

"Why do you want to work so much?" Asuma asked.

"What? I wanna help out, that's all." Naruto said simply.

A cold breeze blew across them, blowing away the ashes gathered at the tip of Asuma's cigarette in small, red embers and rustling surrounding trees. Adding some sound to the quiet streets. "Do you really wanna help us do _this_? This is hard work."

"I'm not afraid of hard work."

"So you just wanna help."

"Yeah."

"Even more then you want to find Konohamaru?" Asuma said, watching Naruto tense slightly under his jacket. That was all he needed to see.

"..." Naruto didn't respond.

"I though so." Asuma rested his full weight against the wall and turned his head to the side, peering out into the shadowy distance where he could see the outline of large trees that lined the edge of the Uchiha household property. Every time he felt the wind it made him think of what it was like to be up there in the sky... "So why do you really want to work on this so much?"

"Because." Naruto said childishly, traces of resentment showing.

"Why?"

"Because I want to help _ok_?" He said, looking over his shoulder in annoyment.

"Why do you want to help so much, you should be out there with Sasuke trying to-"

"Because I don't want to just do nothing ok!" Naruto shouted, changing from annoyment to anger with a single sentence.

"But you don't need to do this." Asuma said, "Your friend-"

"Konohamaru will manage with Sasuke! He doesn't need me there." Naruto yelled, pushing himself on to his feet and turning around to face Asuma. "I want to help."

"Why... Why is this so important to you?" Asuma didn't understand this.

"Because I want to help, I don't wanna just be a burden." Naruto hands clinched into tight fist, the anger evident on his face even if he couldn't look at Asuma completely. "I'm not just that kid with no parents that can't do anything! Everybody thinks that I'm only that annoying little bastard who can't do damn thing for himself, that needs everyone to take care of him. I'm not damnit!"

Asuma just stared at him, he had no idea Naruto thought of it like this.

"Why is _he_ even an infantry soldier? How can he take care of Konoha's interest if he can't be anything but a henderance to everyone else? He's nothing but a brat, he's not anything at all." Naruto spat bitterly. "I'm not goddamnit! I'm not just some stupid little kid! I don't need to be rescued all the time! I can do things for myself!"

"Naruto..." Asuma closed his eyes and let out another soft exhale, blowing a small cloud of gray smoke from his mouth. "We don't think of you that way."

"It doesn't matter how you think if me because I am." Naruto sighed, holding his head down out of sight. "Iruka is all ways doing everything for me, he almost got killed coming to rescue us. And look what happened to his plane, he loves that thing. He works on it every day, and now he can't because he's doing _this_."

"Naruto this is only going to take a few days."

"It doesn't matter! That's not the point." Naruto turned away, sitting back down on the stairs wearily. "He shouldn't have too, he shouldn't have too, nobody should have too..."

Asuma smiled to himself, he never knew Naruto was so concerned about Iruka. He never knew Naruto was so concerned about all of it. Asuma slipped the cigarette out of his mouth again and slowly walked behind Naruto, pausing for a moment before he finally set down on the stairs beside him. "Iruka's not doing this because he thinks he needs to take care of you."

"What about you?"

"No way, your a tough guy, you can get along fine on your own." Asuma told him. "I've seen you in action back in the Sound, and anyone who can slip the president's grandson out of Konoha deserves a little credit."

Naruto smiled, blushing in embarrassment. "Heh, heh."

"We're doing this because we want to, just like_ you_ should have gone after Konohamaru because you wanted to. That's what _friends_ are suppose to do." Asuma lifted the cigarette back into his mouth, watching the heated end glow with the light red of a stoked flame. "You know Iruka is a very friendly person. He really love you guys, that's what he's doing this for."

Naruto's shoulders slumped beneath Asuma's jacket and he held his head down again. "Damn, I guess I missed my chance huh?"

! - ! - !

"It's not as cold as I thought it would be." Konohamaru rested his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, hearing the soft sounds of his scarf trailing in the wind behind him. It was dark, and starting to get late, or so he'd noticed when felt himself starting to become increasingly sleepy.

Konohamaru trailed behind Sasuke, walking through the familiar road towards Sasuke's house. Sasuke, lost in thought, finally noticed how close they were getting to their destination. "Konohamaru." Sasuke stopped, turning back to face the boy. "Wait... I can't do this, something is wrong Konohamaru."

"What?" Konohamaru stopped, blinking questioningly "What are you talking about?"

"Konohamaru, what's wrong? Something just isn't right with you." Sasuke just couldn't shake the feeling, he knew Konohamaru, and this just didn't seem like Konohamaru.

"I'm fine Sasuke." Konohamaru said with a grunt of annoyment, "Stop worrying about me."

"It's just that...This isn't you." Sasuke said.

"Why?"

"Well..." Sasuke folded his arms and looked around. "Your grandfather was just killed by Orochimaru, and you..."

"I'm ok." Konohamaru repeated, and he was getting sick of saying it over again.

Normally that statement would have been enough to shake him up. "Why aren't you..." Sasuke paused, what was the best way to say this... "You aren't-"

"All depressed?" Konohamaru asked. "Because I don't wanna be, I guess I just got used to it."

Sasuke could pick out the problem right there, but he didn't saying about it, what could he say about it anyway? "But it's hasn't even been a full week yet-"

"I know, but I'm over it, I'm not going to be all sad anymore." Konohamaru told him. "I can't do it, it's just too hard."

"What the hell do you mean too hard?" Sasuke reprimanded. "No it's not."

Ok, it was pretty easy. "I just don't want to be ok? I'm ok. I just can't stay that way anymore." Konohamaru looked around almost casually, "I couldn't say mad at you. I guess I can't stay sad all the time either."

"..." Sasuke wasn't completely sure if that answer was plausible enough for him, but bringing up the subject of his betrayal generally did well to get him off whatever particlar subject they were on. Naruto had learned this fact, and Konohamaru had learned it from him. "I guess..." It was reasonable right? If Konohamaru could get over hating him for what he did in record time, maybe he could deal with his grandfather's death.

"I'm just not gonna be a little kid anymore, I got over it."

! - ! - !

Kakashi found his way to the west edge of town where Konoha met the ocean, though he was at the higher end near the south edge of the city. From where he was he could almost see the harbor down at sea level and faint traces of the ocean behind him, separated by a small forest he was half in side when he came upon this building.

It was a 4 stories high and much longer then it was tall, a subdivision that acted much like the NDAFA did, though focused more on the water then the sky. If someone wanted to slip into Konoha undetected, this would be a good place to start.

"Z-Zabuza!" Kakashi came to an abrupt stop in the soft snow, in front of the other man who had surprisingly been waiting for him.

Zabuza stood there almost casually, most notably with his customary remote held in his right hand. "Kakashi."

Looks like he was right. "Don't do this." He said simply and he obviously meant it by his tone of voice.

"Are you actually telling me that?" Zabuza snorted with like amusement.

"I didn't think it would work, but I am going to stop you." Kakashi said firmly.

"Better hurry." Zabuza outstretched his right arm-

'!' Kakashi immediately bolted towards Zabuza, charging at the man with all of his speed. "No!" Which was actually quicker then Zabuza expected it to be, Kakashi rammed him with his shoulder, sending both of them sprawling to the ground. '?' Kakashi pinned down Zabuza's arms, his eyes inanely shooting towards the remote still held tightly in the other man's hand.

But the largest button at the bottom was glowing red, he pushed it! "No!"

Kakashi flinched when he heard the loud sound of a burst coming from the building, looking away from Zabuza and watching as something shot into the air with a loud screech, then it was quiet again... right before something exploded against the midnight dark sky, a brilliant blast of red sparks in a perfect sphere. Then more and more of the screeching sounds came as more objects shot into the air.

"F-Fireworks?" Kakashi couldn't have been more confused. "Zabuza?" He looked back down at the other man.

Zabuza was on the verge of breaking out in laughter.

The air was filled with more bursts of explosives erupting in the air, filling it with blue red, whites, and a volley of other colors.

Kakashi scratched his head and looked up at the display before again. "Fireworks? Why?"

"Fireworks, bombs, basically the same thing." Zabuza looked past Kakashi, his eyes steadily on the display. "Depends on how much of what you put in them."

"So...you didn't-"

"No Kakashi." Zabuza spoke this time with clear annoyance. He always had to point out the obvious to him.

Kakashi didn't know what to say, he couldn't believe it... he also couldn't believe he'd just run all over town for no reason what so ever. "Zabuza." He smirked underneath the mask. "See, I told you, you can do something productive."

"Right, whatever." Zabuza's smirk grew wider, he had to admit the look on Kakashi's face was priceless. "I didn't kill anyone, happy now?"

"Very." Kakashi nodded. "I'm rubbing off on you." Maybe he saw more into the act then Zabuza did, but he was actually pleased with the man. He wasn't a stubborn or his mind wasn't as one tracked as he appeared, he'd just passed up an opportunity to sever a connection to Orochimaru for him. If he ever needed a reason for not turning Zabuza in, it was this.

"Yeah, this is your fault isn't it?" Zabuza snorted. "You and your goddamn lectures."

"Yeah, _that's_ what did it." Kakashi slipped his hand down to Zabuza's face and gently pulled away the bandages while he tugged down his own mask and pressed his lips against the other man's. Listening to the sounds of the fireworks exploding overhead, tenting everything in different colors.

! - ! - !

"Whoa..." Naruto stared up at the sky in amazement, watching the burst of colors paint the sky with growing rapidity, his face glowing with each one as the light washed over the house. "What's going on?"

Asuma sat beside him, watching with the same fixation. "I have no idea..."

"I'm glad I stayed up then." Naruto smiled.

"Hmm..." Asuma wondered who could possibly be doing this at such an hour, but he didn't care too much, he was happy for the sight.

They watched as more and more burst of colorful explosions flooded the sky with the sound to match. "Cool!" Naruto's smile grew larger as he watched the display of fireworks intensify, filling the sky with invisible white smoke that could only be seen behind an explosion.

"Hn." 'He seems happy.' Asuma slipped his arms behind his head and laid back on the porch at the end of the stairs, his eyes steady towards the sky. Maybe it was because he was a pilot, but he couldn't help wondering what that would look like from above...


	27. Chapter 27: My life

Chapter 27: My life

There was the sound of shuffling and a unique clutter from the Camera's microphone, the video was little more then a blur as the device was rotated and shifted around. Finally when the rotation stopped, the blurry picture became clearer as the camera's lens automatically sharpened. It settled on to the image of Shikamaru's face as the boy held the camera outward in his hand towards himself, frames appeared in the corner of the screen, a blinking red light at the lower right side of the camera's screen with the letters 'REC' adjacent from the time '8:00AM' and date. And lastly the readout of a full battery lay underneath it.

"I am unsure exactly how this situation I am in came to be exactly." Shikamaru said, somewhat narratively. "I have been 2000 years out of place for about 3 months now, and a lot of things have taken place before I began this recording. I don't know what will happen next, but I've decided to keep a record of everything that transpires. I don''t know what propose this might hold later, that is in part why I am doing this, but this is the beginning of it. And to the best of my ability I will capture everything that takes place."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

By this time the snow had all but melted outside, the temperature was considerably warmer, it felt to be about 55, and an even warmer breeze swept through the city. The sky was as clear as a perfect summer day, large white clouds drifted through the sea of blue peacefully on the warm winds . The sun was bright overhead, filling every part of Konoha with the golden light and heated rays. By all rights, except for the wetness of freshly melted snow, this was a near perfect day.

Konohamaru would have been angry at that before, that the world was going on as perfect as ever while he was grief stricken. But he wasn't grief stricken today, like many others here were, though he was disappointed that the snow was gone. The boy stood clad in a black suit that made him look somewhat mature, one similar to the ones Sasuke and Naruto,who were standing on either side of him, were wearing.

Konohamaru looked around from where he stood at the head of the large cemetery shrouded in fields of grass that seem to take in the sun happily, everyone had on some type of black, dressed in their finest and looking their best. Then he turned his eyes back toward the head of the crowd in neat rows stretching as far back as his height would allow him to see, where his Grandfather's funeral was taking place, and the first thing his gaze was drawn to was the large black casket. Many of the what had to be the hundreds of people were crying silently, it was morbid and depressing. It felt even more out of place for him since he was the only person here that wasn't sad, sure he was dishartened at his grandfather's demise, and the air here was depressing, and hard to breath in. But he wasn't sad.

Shikamaru and Lee, who stood side by side at Konohamaru's left, gave each other similar glances. Shikamaru took note of this, turning the camera in his hands towards the boy for a moment acknowledgingly. "Hey, what's with Konohamaru?" Lee whispered, his eyes fixed on the boy. "He looks kinda...out of it."

After that Shikamaru kept his vision ahead where the body of Sarutobi lay in a preverbal tomb of flowers, all different colors that surrounded the casket. "He's been like that for a while, I don't know what it is."

Behind Naruto and Sasuke, Iruka, Gai, Asuma and Kakashi stood faithfully, and they were amazed at how their attention was drawn away from the funeral. But it couldn't be helped, the living tended to draw attention more then the dead. Iruka leaned slowly to the side, whispering softly to Kakashi who stood next to him. "Am I the only one who noticed Konohamaru's not crying?"

"No." Kakashi whispered back, he too was wearing a black suit, but still managed to keep on his mask without anyone noticing either way. "But, one doesn't have to be entitled to cry at a funeral."

"But this is _Konohamaru_." Iruka sighed. "He's still young, and sure he doesn't have to cry at his Grandfather's funeral but he..." Iruka's voice trailed off, he couldn't quite come up with the way to say what he wanted.

"Could at lest show some emotion?" Kakashi offered.

"Yeah, when have you known Konohamaru to not be sad at a time like this?" Iruka asked. "Let's face it, he isn't the type that has much self control."

Another warm breeze swept across the cemetery, through the rolls of tombstones surrounding the area. "I guess he finally got some then."

Konohamaru stared at his Grandfather's body resting in the casket enshrined in flowers, and it was all to real. He looked past that to the person speaking, one of many speaking for a president, though oddly enough Konohamaru didn't hear a word of it. He was looking strait at the person, watching their lips move with spoken words, but he heard no sound. '...Huh...' Konohamaru looked up at Naruto and Sasuke who for once weren't paying attention to him, then around at the mass of gathered people and couldn't hear any of them. Curiously though his ears picked up the slight breeze of wind that blew across his face.

And he didn't care, he didn't care about anything..

He just continued to stand there among the mourning crowd, feeling out of place being the only person who wasn't sad.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

_Beep, beep, beep_

That sound, that faint sound that seemed to be so far away. As soon as his cloudy mind became the lest bit conscious he became aware of that sound, it was like drifting up from the deepest depths of the ocean and finally after an eternity he was nearing the surface. For the longest time he'd been blocked out, in darkness, in silence... in silence for the most part. Some times he could hear traces of distant voices , but other then that he was trapped in a dreamless sleep, the barest traces of in the back of his mind telling him he was alive and nothing more.

_Beep, Beep, Beep_

But suddenly he was bombarded with images, a nightmare. Coming at him so fast he could barely comprehend them, they seemed to seer the edges of his mind as they passed by, and the pain just got worse and worse as more and more of the images flooded his head.

Beep, Beep, Beeeee

Ebisu bolted upright in the bed, his body damp with sweat, his breath harsh and ragged, and his heart pounding in his ears. The sound was only over powered by the dead pan, constant tone of a monitor near by he was connected too. "K-Kono. Konohamaru!" The man looked around frantically, his blurry eyes were hurt by the harsh white lights around him, forcing him to shut them and falter back on to the bed in weakness.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Konohamaru burst through the door with a released sigh, tugging down the tie around his neck as he walked into the Uchiha living room, tossing the fabric side as soon as it was unwrapped.

Naruto and Sasuke followed wearily after him, both of them were starting to get worried though they were slow in reaching that point. Naruto unbuttoned the jacket to the black suit he wore, then as it fell open he focused his attention on the top buttons of his collar. "I guess I can get not wanting to be all depressed at the funeral, there had to be like 500 people there, and all those cameras watching him. I guess I wouldn't want all those people seeing me like that either."

"The funeral was over an hour ago." Sasuke noted, taking off his suit jacket all together and setting it on the newly repaired stairs. Then he comfortably pulled the bottom of the white dress shirt from where it was tucked neatly beneath the waist of his pants. "What about now? There is something not right about him."

"Really?"

Naruto and Sasuke turned around with a startled flinch, finding Konohamaru standing there, his shirt completely open now. He seemed to really want to get out of that suit. "Konohamaru, uh..." Naruto stumbled nervously over his words, but he didn't get a chance to finish what ever statement would come.

"You guys worry way to much." Konohamaru shoved his hands in his pockets and walked towards the couch with slow steps, his eyes tilted upward toward the ceiling. "I'm fine, really."

Naruto didn't buy it for one second, "You just watched the only family you have die in front of you. And _Orochimaru_ killed him." Naruto said, almost in a matter of factly tone. "No, your not fine, you can't be fine." Naruto folded his arms and shook his head stubbornly, he refused to believe it.

"Naruto! I'm alright Damnit."Konohamaru hissed in annoyance, sitting down on the couch and letting his body relax from standing on his feet for 3 hours. "I don't know what your worrying about anymore, I am not crying or all depressed."

"That's the point really." Sasuke sat down beside him, loosening the top button of his shirt with one hand. There, he finally said it, it's what everyone was trying to avoid saying since it wasn't really the kind of question a person would normally ask. "Why aren't you sad, he was your grandfather, and like Naruto said the only family you have left was just murdered. Your not grieving at all."

"Maybe I'm over it." Konohamaru snorted, his annoyance growing, showing clearly on his face.

"Or maybe your not." Naruto sat down beside him, looking down at him sternly. "Come on, I know you. It took you much longer then this to get over your parents."

"I cried, now I'm over it." The boy shot back defensively, his voice a loud yell. "I don't have to be sad all the time, I can be ok too! I'm allowed to be fine!" Was that all the recognized him by, always being sad and crying for one reason or another. Was it that bad that they had come to expect it and grew worried when he didn't?

Naruto looked uneasily towards Sasuke, one second he was annoyed and the next he's screaming. With a tired sigh he pushed himself off the couch, continuing to work his way down the shirt, prying more and more of the buttons open as he went. "Sure, whatever. But I know you Konohamaru." Naruto said, pointing to him accusingly. "Your not alright, and it's stupid to pretend to be when you don't have to." Naruto spoke from experience, it was harder to fake being ok when you actually had people who were concerned about you, it only made you bitter with frustration. And besides, he knew Konohamaru, who had a tendency to repress things and ignore them.

"Will all of you stop worrying about me!" Konohamaru shouted, his face contorted in annoyment and anger. "I'm not a little kid anymore Damnit! If I say I'm fine, then I'm fine! He's dead, he's dead ok! There is no use dwelling on the past." Some words he picked up from Itachi a number of years ago.

"Tch." Naruto just shook his head and walked off, treading over the newly repaired wooden floor boards and up the rebuilt stairs. "The Sasuke thing doesn't work for you!" And Apparently he picked up on where Konohamaru got those words, he was half right anyway.

Konohamaru folded his arms and closed his eyes stubbornly. "Whatever."

And Sasuke couldn't help but watch in mild horror as he saw a smaller version of himself starting to grow. 'Konohamaru...' What brought on this change? Konohamaru had to be sad about his grandfather, he had to be...right? "Konoha-"

_Ringgg_

Sasuke was interrupted by the ring of his phone, which was surprising since no one ever called this house, why would they, no one knew anyone actually lived here anymore. He'd forgotten he even owned one. '?' "What the hell?" Sasuke stood up and walked over to a table against the wall beside the kitchen door where a phone rested. Clearly suspicious he slowly picked it and held it to his ear. "Hello?"

Konohamaru looked back curiously over the back of the couch. "Who is it?"

"It's Iruka..." Sasuke listened curiously, and Konohamaru just waited, wondering what could possibly be the reason for the man to call. Sasuke's face grew a slightly more serious expression when he finally did hang up with out a word.

"What was it?"

"It was for you, He said Ebisu is awake."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Konohamaru came to a quick stop down the white tiled corridors of Konoha General, the same hospital he'd been taken to after his rescue from Orochimaru, the top rated hospital in the country. The white dress shirt under his suit's jacket was buttoned up roughly, his appearance was some what hasty since he didn't have time to change. An anxious energy coursed through him, an energy that made him want to move as fast as possible, making him unable to be still or slow, an unexplained feeling that could only be relinquished by the sight of his body guard in his eyes again.

Naruto and Sasuke followed curiously behind him, watching as Konohamaru stopped at the door with the numbers '4477' engraved in golden letters on the large wood. The boy slowly pushed the door open and walked into the brightly lit white settings of the copiously clean hospital room, a rather large room actually. "Ebisu...?" Konohamaru paused cautiously in the doorway as his eyes drifted upon the bed.

There was a man laying there, a white curtain drawn halfway around his bed to farther block out the sunlight from a window, a white blanket drawn up to his chest, an IV in his arm and a tube down his throat connected to a breathing machine. "Oh man, he's in rough shape." This was Naruto's first time actually coming to see Ebisu, he didn't know how bad his injury's were nor did he know the extent of them, only how he obtained them.

"Yeah he is isn't he?" A voice agreed from behind the curtain, and just as soon the white barrier was drawn back. And there Ebisu was, sitting on the edge of another bed, dressed in the conventional hospital gown and clearly not liking it. Aside from that he seemed just as normal as ever, not even a mark left from the uncountable number of bullets that had been shot through every part of his body. "You would have thought they could have given this guy his own room but it's Konoha general, what can you do?"

Konohamaru's eyes illuminated far beyond what anyone had ever seen him reach, his face was in steady disbelief, it was like he'd seen the dead come to life. "E-Ebisu!" Konohamaru smiled greatly and ran over to the man, not so lightly diving unto him and tackling him back on to the bed as he wrapped his arms around the man and hugged him with every ounce of his strength. "Ebisu! Ebisu! Ebisu!"

Ebisu smiled lightly, wrapping his arms around the boy and hugging him gently, looking down at him with an almost interest in his eyes. The boy was squeezing him as hard as he could with his face buried in his chest, clearly not intent on moving anytime soon. 'Konohamaru...' Ebisu ruffled the boy's hair slightly. "Yeah, it's me..."

Konohamaru gave Ebisu one last, tight squeeze before he finally let go and forced himself to stand up, still smiling wildly. "I can't believe it! You look...you look, amazing! You look better then before." Maybe it was because he finally started to pick up on these things, like the subtleties of appearances and surroundings. He just attributed it to growing older.

"Yeah." Ebisu pushed himself up on to his feet and stretched his arms above his head, he was so stiff, but something like that was to be expected after laying dormant for 2 and half months. Honestly he thought it would be much worse, when he realized how long he was out that was.. "I feel better then I ever have, if you can withstand being shot a hell of a lot of times, I would recommend it."

"You remember?" Konohamaru asked.

"Everything." Ebisu smirked with amusement as he looked towards the door where Naruto and Sasuke stood with a mild confusion, Naruto in particular. "Don't just stand over there looking stupid, come over here!"

Naruto was so completely stumped he could do nothing but nod and obey, Sasuke right behind him. This was so strange! Where was that look Ebisu always gave Naruto, the discerning comments, he was smiling at him for goodness sake. And even more strange yet, his bandana and glasses were gone. "Y-You...You..." Naruto stuttered almost completely stupifyed, to the point where he could do nothing more then point at Ebisu's head until the words finally came. "You have hair! And Eyes!"

"Huh?" Ebisu subconsciously ran a hand through the short, black strands of hair that always seemed to stay hidden, as elusive as Kakashi's mask. And the dark eyes looked up at Naruto curiously, "What? You thought I was bald?" When he saw the expression on Naruto's face hadn't changed he knew what answer he would get. "Well I'm not."

"I have to admit, this is really unexpected." Sasuke wasn't nearly as dumbstruck, but he was throughly amazed, he'd actually seen Ebisu, he'd read his chart, he knew how many bullets they took out of him, and where. "I didn't think you would live, I didn't think you were even still alive."

"Yeah, I guess..." Ebisu looked up thoughtfully, nearly 3 months... "I don't know about you guys but I'm ready to sneak out of here, I never liked hospitals much." The man immediately began looking around for some clothing.

"Shouldn't you wait until they discharge you?" Konohamaru asked. 'If I had to wait, he should too!'

"Tch, you only live once, and I don't have time to waste sitting around in a hospital." Ebisu said, rummaging around in a nightstand near his bed. "There is so much I have to do, So much I have to catch up on."

Konohamaru looked back at Naruto and Sasuke who could only look indifferently or shrug. But still, Naruto was confused, who was this guy that looked like Ebisu and why was he so nice? Maybe that coma did something to him? Or maybe the shots in the head he took...Yeah, that was it.

"I hope you brought me some clothes." Ebisu stood upright and grunted in annoyance. "At lest they didn't steal my wallet, Is anyone else here besides you guys?" The man asked, Konohamaru shook his head.

Naruto rubbed his head, still somewhat off balance. ."We didn't uh...bring-"

"We can stop and buy you some clothes." Konohamaru announced bluntly, still grinning wildly.

"Yeah, ok, I guess... Might as well, I don't feel like going back to the White house just yet, it way too loud, I'm sure your grandfather can do with out me for a little while longer..." Ebisu found his bandana and glasses sitting in a drawer and familiarly dawned the two objects he was most notarized for wearing.

Konohamaru and Naruto glanced at each other and Naruto rubbed his head almost nervously. "That won't be a problem."... 'Aright Konohamaru,do you want to tell him or should I?'

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

It was a short process, taking a half hour at the most. They managed to leave the hospital with Ebisu without incident, somehow no one noticed them. And of course afterwords they had to buy Ebisu some clothing, Sasuke just drove where he was instructed,which also hadn't taken too long, Konohamaru was entrusted with the job, since he already knew Ebisu's size and what he'd like the best.

It was awkward though, Ebisu had questions, who wouldn't have questions after being in a coma. Though all of them were reluctant to answer at lest some of them, the eventually told him what had been happening with Orochimaru and the Sound, of Zabuza, all but one detail Konohamaru seemed to avoid despite being fine as he was saying, though he promised Naruto he'd tell the man.

Sasuke pushed open the unlocked door to his home, Konohamaru and Naruto following behind loyally. Ebisu lagged behind slightly, and finally stopped completely at the door way, looking around nervously, and his body was tense enough to match. "No way, I can't."

Naruto, Sasuke and Konohamaru paused, looking back. Well, they could see why he would be reluctant, this house did give off a rather unwanted vibe. Bad things seemed to happen here. "It's ok." Konohamaru said reassuringly.

Ebisu took a deep breath and stepped inside, he felt kind of silly, being a grown man and so nervous about coming into a place where Konohamaru walked into so freely. But still, he couldn't help himself, this house just didn't feel right, it was really creepy. Ebisu tensed visibly, this house, this place, it was so weird to actually be inside of. And it was so quiet around here, and deathly still. There was a reason Sasuke didn't comeback to this place, so why were they all here now?

"You see, it's just a normal house." Konohamaru said. "No blood, no ghost, nothing jumping out at you, nothing creepy about it."

"So this is where your hiding out now." Ebisu said, clearly addressing Konohamaru as he looked around absentmindly, though on a clear edge. "I never would have suspected it." Man, he didn't want to be in this house.

"Heh, Heh." Konohamaru lifted his hands behind his head and smiled. "I know, it's genius. Wanna take a look around?"

"Sure, whatever."

When Sasuke entered the living room he wasn't surprised to find just about everyone there, everyone being the usual crowd. Gai, Kakashi, Iruka, Shikamaru still holding his camera, and Lee nurturing the sapling as always, and somehow Asuma wasn't here at all, which seemed somewhat odd because when he'd seen them all lately, Asuma was always apart of the group. It must have been at work. "If you want to see him there he is." He announced indifferently, setting his car keys on the table and walking off toward the kitchen.

Ebisu stopped curiously to survey the crowd, he wasn't expecting to see all them here. Though he was happy somewhat, to see some familiar faces, it was enough to make him forget how he felt about where he was for a while. "Hmm... I'm lost, what are all you guys doing here?"

"I see no one explained anything to you." Iruka walked over to Ebisu and looked over him curiously, the same friendly smile he always had shining brightly. He had helped carry Ebisu back, he knew just how bad a shape the man had been in. He was sure the man would die while they were moving him, and to see him now... "How are you feeling?"

"Just fine...except I'm a little confused at some things, what the hell is going on?" He asked in the most polite manner one could ask that type of question.

"I have to admit, your recovery is amazing." Kakashi sat lazily on the stairs, though still looking over Ebisu with the same keenness he saw everything. There wasn't a mark on him, he never saw anything like it. "I guess since you practically have been dead over the past weeks, it's understandable your a little lost. Naruto, Sasuke and Konohamaru didn't fill you in?"

Ebisu folded his arms and snorted, there were just so many things wrong with what had been going on, and Konohamaru's involvement in it all. "Yeah, that's what I'm confused about."

"Geez, it's only been a few weeks but it seems so much longer." Gai said with a smile, "You look truly miraculous, but you just woke up, should you really be up?"

"Heh." Ebisu smiled lightly. "I feel fine, don't worry about me. Besides, I've been out of it for too long, what kind of body guard am I?"

Konohamaru.

Ebisu must have been worried, considering the last time he saw the boy he was pushing him down a vent to avoid capture by enemy's. Konohamaru never expected him to wake up, no one had really, how relieved they both must have been to see each other again... "Hey, what happened to the wall?" Ebisu asked, looking back towards the door curiously.

"Actually, there was a monster or something that got in here..." Naruto said, shrugging lightly as if he was to lazy to go into detail..

"What the hell was it that did all of this?"

"Oh, it wasn't all from that thing." Konohamaru told him, "Some of it was from those guys from the Sound."

"Yeah...It's never dull with you guys is it?" Ebisu spoke with even more nervousness then before, it was this house, this kinda stuff never happened when Konohamaru was hiding out at Naruto's apartment. "Speaking of Sound, I wonder how Sarutobi's doing, things must be getting pretty bad around here."

Gai glanced over at Iruka, then down at Konohamaru who immediately looked away when Ebisu brought up the subject, they seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Well, I'm glad to see your alright." Gai said, slipping his pockets and standing up from the couch. Seeing that the man was about to leave, Shikamaru and Lee stood up too from the spot on the ground where they had been. "But things are a bit hectic around here, I have to get back to work." He told the man, heading for the door, managing to call back. "And get some rest." Before he, Shikamaru and Lee disappeared beyond the outside.

"Yeah, he's right, I have to go too." Iruka said remorsefully, following Gai's exit, he was Sure Ebisu would be fine on his own. Besides, he probably wouldn't stick around here long anyway. He didn't seem to like it much.

Being the last to leave, Kakashi wordlessly stood up and slipped past Ebisu, but not before inconspicuously dropping the latest version of his favorite book into the man's hands, who gave him a thankful nod and slipped it into his own pocket.

"Geez, you two are both perverts..." Naruto could only shook his head discerningly before heading upstairs, he really wanted to get out of this suit.

Ebisu simply adjusted his glasses and let his gaze fall upon Konohamaru who let himself fall tiredly back on to the couch, finishing unbuttoning the white shirt for the second time. It seemed they were the only one's left, which was somewhat of a good thing, his only motive was Konohamaru. "Konohamaru, what the hell!"

Konohamaru could probably take a guess at what Ebisu was mad about, he most likely wouldn't have been wrong. "What? What?"

Ebisu stood over him and folded his arms, looking on him chastisingly. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What? I'm not doing anything wrong!" Konohamaru said defensively.

"The hell you aren't! What are you doing in a situation like this? This is exactly the kind thing I was suppose to keep you away from."

"You are so over reacting." Konohamaru sat up slightly, the open shirt fell open, freeing his chest. "I know it's a lot to take in, a lot of changes and stuff happened since you've been asleep, but things here are working out."

"Really."Ebisu rolled his eyes, sarcasm clearly filling his voice.

"Yeah." Konohamaru nodded, pushing himself back on to his feet again. "With all the resources we have all together, we can stop whatever Orochimaru tries to do."

"Oh, is that what your trying to do now?" Ebisu asked, "You always were too impulsive and stubborn for your own good, what are you trying to do, is this about revenge or something?"

"No, no." Konohamaru shook his head. "With all the stuff we stopped already, we saved a lot of people. We can still save a lot more people." Orochimaru already took away so much of what he had, at the very lest he wanted to stop him from doing it to someone else.

"Yeah, sure, you can save a lot of people. Except maybe yourself."

"What?"

"How many times have you almost gotten killed since I..." Ebisu's voice trailed off oddly when he came on the subject, but he quickly found his words again. "This is too dangerous or you, hell, if you don't get killed, your gonna end up screwed up for life. "

"I'm not a little kid anymore, and come on Ebisu, it's not that bad around here." Konohamaru said, though he was worried he wasn't convincing enough.

He was a little kid..."That's not all of it." Ebisu almost wished he smoked right now, he needed some bad habit to work off all this uneasiness, or at lest something that would calm him down some. "I know it sound strange when I say this...but...when I was asleep, I saw some things, a dream maybe, but whatever it was it sure as hell woke me up. It was about you...I have a really bad feeling about all of this."

Konohamaru looked up at the man curiously, he knew Ebisu and his feelings tended to be right, maybe because he knew his body guard had experience, and a lot of it. "Why? What do you think is going to happen?"

"It's not about what I think is gonna happen, it about..." Ebisu didn't usually marritt dreams as a viable source to take heed from, but this one was different. It was so real... and he never had a dream that actually hurt before, not to mention it did come to him in a coma, that had to be special. "It's more about what I saw...It was you, in some kinda trouble... and someone, someone familiar, and Orochimaru, I know I saw Orochimaru. And, there's a guy standing behind you."

"There was a guy standing behind me in your dream?"

Ebisu sighed and pointed over Konohamaru's shoulder. "There's a guy standing behind you."

Konohamaru turned around, and was mildly surprised to see Zabuza standing there. "Zabuza?"

Zabuza? Ebisu immediately recognized that name. "Zabuza? Zabuza the devil, from the Mist country!"

Zabuza ignored Ebisu. "I'm looking for Kakashi." He could tell by the silence that followed his question that Konohamaru wanted to know why. "I need to talk to him." He said with clear annoyance in his voice.

"Oh, he just left." Konohamaru said, "I think he's going back to work or something like that."

With out a word and with his answer gained, Zabuza walked past the two, ignoring the almost piercing look Ebisu was giving him. He walked casually out the door, leaving it unclear how he got in with out being noticed in the first place.

Ebisu folded his arms, looking at the boy as if he couldn't believe he was actually saying this to him. "Konohamaru you can't be that naive, I taught you enough to know a situation you shouldn't be in when you see one."

Konohamaru sat up and looked around, trying to figure out something convincing to say. This situation wasn't that bad, he didn't want Ebisu to think he was too stupid to know when and when he couldn't handle something, or shouldn't be involved at all. Sure he'd been traumatized more then once after Ebisu went into a coma, and put in really dangerous situations that he probably...most likely wouldn't have been in if he'd stayed out of this place like Ebisu had been trying to do. But he was fine, he was doing ok here, really.

Ebisu folded his arms and looked down on the boy with the same chastising look. "So, this is the type of people your around now, one of the world's most notorious terrorist?" How exactly did this all come to be? Why was Zabuza in Konoha, why was he even in this house, what the hell is going on around here?

"It's ok, he's a friend, he's working with us."

"Zabuza? Konohamaru, do you even realize what's happening? You've made a deal with the devil."

Konohamaru smiled, trying his best to lighten the situation. "Oh Come on Ebisu, Your completely over reacting, it's not that-"

"Zabuza isn't the only devil I'm talking about." Ebisu sighed harshly, he couldn't believe Konohamaru was that completely oblivious! The man simply threw up his hands in defeat and walked past the boy, he couldn't believe how bad this had gotten for his charge.

Konohamaru blinked questioningly, quickly going after the man. "What? What did I do?"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

It amazed him how easily it was for him to simply walk down the street, maybe it was because he was in a different country.

Zabuza almost casually moved down the thawed out streets of Konoha, his ever present awareness monitoring everything in perception. Maybe it was because he was in a different country, he could never be so liberal back in Mist, but here not as many people recognized him. That umong other things wrong with this place, like large dent in the police force caused by Orochimaru's general, and a dead president that had yet to be replaced. He was sure they were working on it.

Zabuza wasn't particularly compelled to help Konoha, only it seemed to be a magnet for Orochimaru. He'd gotten more consecutive encounters with those in the wake of Orochimaru in the last 2 and a half months then most of his time after...after Orochimaru killed...

Zabuza stopped, staring ahead with clear aggravation showing in his eyes. And he waited... watching silently as the small flow of people surrounding him thinned until the street was practically empty.

"So, how long are you going to follow me?" There was no response to his inquiry, he was talking completely to himself.

Or so it seemed at first, when Zabuza didn't move from his spot for nearly a full minute, some one finally slipped out of an alley way between two stores. Stepping into the bright sunlight of the open. Zabuza looked over him carefully, it was a man, with a clearly strong build, dressed in a pair of blue pants and a black button down shirt that currently was open to fit the weather. Blue hair extended down just past ear length and matching eyes looked over Zabuza with the same carefulness. From what Zabuza could see he wasn't armed. "I see you noticed me."

"Why the hell are you following me?" Zabuza asked, it was clear from his voice that he wouldn't ask twice.

"I needed to see if you were who I thought you were." The man said.

"Then I suggest you forget me." He snorted before walking away. He couldn't just kill him, then he'd never hear the end of it from Kakashi, and Iruka even.

"Don't you want to know why I'm looking for you?" The man asked with some amusement.

"Not really."

"I think it might interest you." The man said, not even bothering to chase after Zabuza, if the man wanted it then he'd just have to wait.

"Really, and what would that be?" Zabuza paused, who the hell was this guy?

"Your after Orochimaru right? You know, he has a lot of sources in this city, and I know one of them for sure."

That peaked his interest, he looked back at the man, folding his arms suspiciously. "And why are you telling me this?"

"Simple, you want Orochimaru dead right? Well, so do I."

Zabuza shifted his eyes away almost distractedly. "And who might you be?"

"My name is Mizuki. Touji Mizuki" Mizuki introduced himself.

"And, Mizuki, if you want Orochimaru dead, why don't you go after him yourself?"

"Heh." Mizuki smirked, "A smart person knows what he can and can't do, and my desire to see Orochimaru dead is much greater then my pride."

"And what makes you think I'm going to listen to you?" Zabuza asked, this could just as easily be a trap.

"Well you listened to me before, why not again?" Mizuki asked with slight amusement, by the look on Zabuza's face he could tell the man didn't know what he was talking about, but of course he didn't, why would he? "I've been feeding you leads for a while now, like Kabuto's break in of that medical research center research center on 94 street a few weeks ago. I'm sure you remember that."

Zabuza paused...what? "You?"

"Yeah, just propagate it through enough sources and I know it would reach you eventually. " Mizuki told him proudly. "The thing is tjat none of my leads have been getting any response lately, so I decided to find someone who I new could handle it. So, why not take one more?"

Alright, this guy was using him, but still, if what he was saying was true, he had been helping him. As long as he got to Orochimaru... Maybe, he'd consider listening to what he had to say. "So what are you trying to tell me?"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Konohamaru stood in the quiet, empty hallway, his hand grasping the knob of the last door at the end of the corridor. The window to his left was dark, holding only what little moon light could shine through at just the right angle. He slowly pushed it open, peaking inside carefully as the light from the room pierced the dark hallway and met his face upon entry. '...' He saw the man sitting on the empty bed of one of the guest rooms, a book resting in his lap that he looked through almost remorsefully. "Ebisu."

Ebisu barely looked up at him, his eyes steadily focused on the photographs in the scrap book. Konohamaru sat down on the bed next to him, leaning over enough to see what the man was looking at. He was still dressed in the suit from his grandfather's funeral, since he hadn't bothered leaving to change his clothing .

"It's been so long since I've seen this." The man looked over one picture in particular, it was of him and Konohamaru. He could remember when it was taken too, about 2 years ago, Konohamaru was sitting on his shoulders, laughing as if nothing bad had ever happened to him. Ebisu had been trying to cheer him up since it was the day after his parents had to go back to tour, still being on active duty and all. "I can't believe you still have this..."

"Yeah... Shouldn't you be resting or something?"

"Are you kidding me? I had enough sleep to last me for the rest of my life." Ebisu said almost forlornly, his attention still with the pages of the photographs.

Konohamaru looked up at the man, just watching the look on his face... Sure, he ran away from Ebisu a lot, at lest tried too anyway, and he yelled and screamed at the man when he got caught. But even though he didn't show it, he really cared about Ebisu a lot, he was just about the only thing consistent in his life. His mother and father weren't there that much, and his grandfather was the president, in war time, so he was often tied up a lot in work. That left Ebisu, his faithful bodyguard, with him, and he was so much more then that. He was just about a parent, he talked with him, he listened to him, he tutored him, and above all protected him.

Ebisu came to another picture that he took special notice of, one of him as a baby in his father Reedamaru's arms while the man lay bandaged in a hospital bed, Ebisu standing beside him, both smiling happily. "You and my dad were really good friends huh?" Konohamaru looked at the picture as if he hadn't seen it before, though he had, he only hadn't looked at it with Ebisu.

"Yeah..." Ebisu smirked lightly with a laugh not from amusement. "Your father pissed me off so much, the way he died. He was always talking about what he had to do when ever Sarutobi tried to convince him not to be in this particular field of work, he was always saying he was doing his job to protect you. And he had to go and get himself killed... But still he knew what he had to do and didn't compromise, he practically used his last breath to make sure you would be safe considering what Orochimaru was trying to get out him him. I get that now."

"..." Konohamaru just stared at the picture, silently for a while. Now he got it, Orochimaru couldn't get what he wanted from his father and mother, so he was coming after their much weaker son... "Ebisu...there really are reasons why I'm _here_, you don't understand- "

"I understand just fine." Ebisu said sharply, he slowly closed the book and set it softly aside, slowly rising from his spot on the empty bed. He paced around almost nervously. "Orochimaru, you hate him, I get that. He screwed your life up, just about everything bad that happened to you was his fault. You want revenge."

"No Ebisu, I-"

"Oh come on." Ebisu stopped his nervous pacing and stood in place on the hardwood floors. Looking at Konohamaru firmly beyond the sunglasses shielding his eyes. "You should know better, there isn't one good reason why you should be here, involved in this, your purposefully putting yourself in more danger then you even realize. A hell of a lot more then it should be in. Don't think-"

"My grandfather." Konohamaru announced simply, that was a good enough reason.

His grandfather, where was his Grandfather."What's with Sarutobi anyway?" Ebisu quickly dropped his growing anger, more curiosity replacing it. "Nobody is telling me anything about him?"

"He's dead." Konohamaru said bluntly. "I saw Orochimaru kill him, and he got away, like always. "

Ebisu was silent at first, almost as if he didn't believe it, or was taking it in. He never thought anyone would actually manage to kill the old man, not with as many attempts on his life he'd seen before. So, Orochimaru finally did it... "How did you get out of there?"

"What?"

"You watch Orochimaru kill your grandfather, he had to know you were there so how did you get away from him?"

Konohamaru's mind immediately started racing, scrambling for an answer. "I ran-"

"The hell you did." Ebisu sighed heavily, letting himself slowly drift down into his seat beside Konohamaru. "There were just so many things that didn't add up with where you kept disappearing too. So, do you have a thing with finding Uchihas or am I just imagining things?"

Konohamaru couldn't believe it! How did Ebisu know so much? "H-How did you find out about Itachi?"

"Itachi? I was talking about Sasuke!" Itachi? Itachi! Ebisu almost couldn't believe it, what was with this kid, how did he get in to situations like these? Well it explained some things, there were times when he just couldn't possibly have been with Naruto and Sasuke... But Itachi? "So, your hanging out with S-ranked criminals now too? I bet your friends don't even know...Great, you made a deal with the devil."

Konohamaru simply held his head down, speaking in soft, serious tones. "He saved me... He saved me, Orochimaru almost killed both of us, I never would have gotten out of there if wasn't for him and Kisame." Ebisu knew about Itachi, why not about Kisame too, it was already too late. "And I'm doing fine _here_. I mean, there were some great-"

"Don't give me that I'm fine line." Ebisu stood up abruptly and began pacing again, an anger and annoyment rising up in his voice and showing in every movement. "I know you better then that, I'm not buying it, and neither are you. Hell, why do you think I woke up?" He probably couldn't dispute the fact that Konohamaru was the reason he woke up out of that coma, he saw him in that painful nightmare of a dream that brought him back to consciousness. "You slipped the track, and like it or not, I'm gonna help you get back on it. I mean look at who you put yourself around."

"Your wrong about them." Konohamaru said, though his voice sounded more distracted then angry. "Zabuza...Itachi, Kisame, they're not bad guys...not completely, they're actually helping." Zabuza was helping, Itachi and Kisame were helping _him_ at lest.

Ebisu lifted his hand to his temples with the start of a headache forming, this was just too much to wake up too. "Ok, So three of the worlds worst criminals are the heros, and you guys are basicly braking the law." They were working with Zabuza, that was bad enough, Konohamaru was practically an accessory to whatever Itachi and Kisame did lately. Not to mention any other little things that may have happened along the way, and there was that little matter of treason...yeah, they were breaking the law alright. "What the hell did I wake up to?"

Konohamaru just rubbed the back of his head and looked away evasively. "Sorry..."As if it was his fault. Ebisu was right, he didn't have to be involved, he didn't need to be involved, because he wasn't doing anything, he was useless.

"You know, I naturally assumed you'd be lost with out me but-"

"I..." Konohamaru reluctantly lifted his head, and his eyes barely found his way to Ebisu's, almost as if afraid. "I am lost with out you." He couldn't describe how much he missed Ebisu, the person he'd been protected by since he was a baby, the person who just about gave his own life to save his. As much as he hated the seemingly unfair restriction Ebisu's presence and job placed on him, he cared about him more then he ever knew he did. He didn't want the man to wake up from a near death coma that was his fault the man got into in the first place, and have Ebisu be disappointed with him, and in everything he did since he'd been gone.

"Konohamaru..." Ebisu placed his hand on Konohamaru shoulder and gave a half smile, no, he wasn't mad at him, he honestly could have expected a lot worse, the boy could have been dead. He didn't have the time nor the will to be mad, or hateful, it just wasn't in him anymore, a lot of things left him. "You just forgot about who you are." With Orochimaru driving him farther and father over the edge every moment, taking away more and more from him...

Konohamaru's eyes fixed on the orbs hidden beneath the man's sunglasses with a desperation beyond what someone his age should have had. "Remind me. I don't know...I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing any more, how...what kind of person am I suppose to be, the... the only thing I know how to do anymore is to wait for what's gonna happen next... Tell me"

Ebisu knelt down in front of him, his hand still planted on the boy's shoulder. "Nah...that's for you to figure out, not me. It's not my place to tell you that anymore. I can tell you who you were though." Ebisu said. "You were a hyper little kid who always caused trouble for your grandfather, who sometimes had to be forced to do what he was told, who kept sneaking away no matter how many times I told you not to run away from me like that... You were a kid who never let anything that happened bother him, who always remand happy, and decent and a good person despite your situation around you that should have made you other wise. And always kept being that person even when he was miserable, which was...well, let's be honest, a large portion of the time."

Konohamaru stared up at the man, watching him and listening to him, his mind completely focused on his protector.

"Despite being an annoying brat, you were always a good person, you always found away to laugh, and you were always smarter then most people could ever realize and give you credit for. That's the Konohamaru I..."

"What?"

Ebisu smile faded away with his voice, and he forced himself to take a deep breath. "That's the kid I knew... I see him around here maybe I'm start believing what you keep telling me."

Konohamaru's eyes drifted away from Ebisu, and a slight slump came into his form, his feet kicking circles above the floor they just couldn't reach yet. "Yeah well, let me know if you do." He was different now, he wasn't just some weak kid who couldn't do anything but stand there and watch while he kept losing the people around him. He wouldn't be weak for long.

"..."Ebisu lifted himself off of his knees and sat down beside Konohamaru, wrapping his arm comforting around the boy's shoulders.

"Why didn't you try and go back, to the white house I mean, you didn't know my grandfather was dead."

"Like I was going to leave you alone again." Ebisu said with a small laugh that quickly faded. "I wonder..."

"What?"

"Do you ever think about...what would have happened if you never would have left Konoha?" He found himself thinking about that a lot since he woke up...damnit, why didn't he get there sooner...

Konohamaru resisted the urge he had to let himself rest his head in Ebisu's lap, even if he wanted to, even if knew the man wouldn't mind, it might even have made the man feel a little better knowing that he hadn't changed to much. That he was still the Konohamaru he knew. But he didn't, he couldn't...He couldn't be that person. "I think about it all the time." Things would be so different if he had just stayed put...

"I guess we both missed that chance." Ebisu said lightly, he hadn't stopped Konohamaru and Konohamaru hadn't stopped himself. Thing would have been undeniably different if he'd stayed behind, if they all did... "Things just wont ever be normal around here."

"Maybe it was meant to be." Konohamaru sighed. "People like us don't get to have normal." It seemed none of them would, not Naruto, not Sasuke, not Iruka, not anyone.

"Tch. There are no people like us."

! - ! - !

Ok, he was a little nervous.

Mizuki shut the door behind him as he looked around the familiar office of his old law firm, which he'd left behind not to long ago. It didn't matter if he stayed or not, at lest that's what it felt like, everyone else had left this place behind years ago. And without them there was no firm.

Mizuki flipped on the light and looked around at the desk before him, surrounded by shelves of legal books, the most defining feature. He could remember when he and Ebisu used to spend hours searching through these books, trying to find any thing relative to whatever case he had going at the moment. '...' Mizuki narrowed his eyes slightly at the thought, the memory.

Things were much different here back then, he could remember everything they had gone through in his place, how hard it was. A lawyer with his own practice, with his own faithful para-legal Kurenai, and Ebisu, who at the time was still in the secret service, helped in whatever way he could. But simply, he was there to be close to Mizuki, and Mizuki had been happier for that then he knew how to express.

'Damnit Ebisu...' He still didn't know why Ebisu did it, why he left like he did, and for that kid, that goddamn kid.

It didn't matter anymore, all that matter was here and now.

And as much as he tried to tell his self he wasn't nervous, honestly he was. Ebisu was awake, he was never planed for, he could complicate things, he would complicate things. Things couldn't help but get complicated when the two of them were both involved. '...' Mizuki felt a silent anger in him that made his hands ball in to tight fist, the hell with that, this would still work! The hell if _he_ was awake, Konohamaru still didn't stand a chance.

'They didn't see me coming, maybe they aren't as good as they thought...' But yet it all came back to Ebisu, he just shows up and once again he was the center of Mizuki's universe, but he was working on that.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Ebisu?" Konohamaru was sprawled messily across the bed, his eyes staring up at the ceiling. It was getting late. "Can I ask you something."

Ebisu sat peacefully in a seat across from the bed, watching Konohamaru lazily. He felt like he was on guard duty again, those times after a very large security breach, or when there was a perceived threat that involved the president's grandson. He always had to stay awake all night and keep watch over Konohamaru, it wasn't that boring though, Konohamaru rarely was able to sleep at times like that anyway, not right away at lest. This was just like one of those times, it was late, past 2 in the morning, and everyone was a sleep. It was quiet as usual, not even the sound of the wind could be heard. He could hear Konohamaru breathing from here, even the barest shift, movement the boy made on the turned up covers . "Sure. What is it?"

Konohamaru let his arms come to rest behind his head and he stared out of the window beside the bed. This room felt oddly warm with the lights on after Ebisu had been here with him for as long as he had. It felt like his room at home, before moved in with his grandfather. "Why...Why did you stay with me?"

"Hmm?" Ebisu listened to the silence that filled the gap between them as Konohamaru gathered his thoughts and words. It used to be quiet around this time at Konohamaru's house, all those times he had to stay up and make sure nothing happened to the boy, it was almost as quiet as it was around here. When Konohamaru went to live with his grandfather in the white house, that quiet late at night faded, there was always some noise, some one working, guards, something... Honestly, he missed this quiet.

He could hear Konohamaru's breathes increase with one heavy inhale, then with a soft exhale his breathing returned to the whisper quiet rise and fall of his chest. "I heard you and my mom and dad talking a lot before they died, about this job."

"Huh, so, what did you hear?" He asked, feeling a groggy sense of peacefulness came on to him at 2 in the morning, it could be heard clearly in his voice... Ebisu didn't put it past Konohamaru to eavesdrop, he was always kinda sneaky in a child like way, but he had to take in consideration he was good enough to sneak off to Naruto's apartment all those times.

When Konohamaru heard that half sleep, drowsy tone in Ebisu's voice, he felt somewhat comfortable asking him questions like this. Ebisu was always that much more honest, and something about the thought of Ebisu so near to sleep that he probably could pass pit right afterwords. But in the end, he was the one that feel asleep, since he waited so long to try and talk to the man, and Ebisu never did. "That you don't get paid enough for this job, it's too hard, too much work...That, it's not worth the trouble..."

Ebisu's eyes hid behind the glasses, leaving Konohamaru unable to see what they looked like, to gain a hint of what he thought. He never realized what people meant when they said the eyes were the windows to the soul, but he read so much off of Ebisu's eyes, maybe that was why he always kept those glasses on. "Well, it's true."

"...it is?" Konohamaru looked at the man fully, a sad questioning in his eyes. The silence was louder then ever between the short pause before Ebisu's response that seemed, louder then it was. The darkness crept half way into the room from underneath the door from the dark hall behind it, peaking in from he corners of the room in deep black imprints, from the shadow of a tree outside the window.

"Yeah." Ebisu nodded. "I don't get paid nearly enough, but it is worth the trouble." Speaking truthfully, Ebisu liked when Konohamaru asked him questions in the middle of the night, it was one of the only times he could see just how serious the boy was, truly what kind of person Konohamaru was. Konohamaru told him just about everything, he bared most of his soul to the man, except for those few secrets he kept. And he was keenly aware why Konohamaru did it so late, but it didn't matter, he was used to working late and his perception never suffered from his lack of sleep. And never brought up with Konohamaru talked to him about, it would be easier on the boy if he just pretended like he'd been too sleepy and forgot. He just wished Konohamaru picked better times to do this.

"It is?" The boy asked hopefully.

"Yeah" Ebisu smiled a messy, sleepy smile. "Yeah, it's stressful, and hard. But so is everything."

"Do you... regret taking it?" Konohamaru asked, his voice more serious then most people ever knew it could be. Was it just a job? Was he just an obligation?

Ebisu closed his eyes, Konohamaru would be asleep soon , he always fell asleep. "No."

"Even though you got hurt all those times?"

"Yeah," Ebisu said as if it was so simple, like it didn't require any thought. "Why?"

"Just wondering." Konohamaru let his hand come to his mouth, covering a small yawn. Just wondering... He felt the chill of a cool night against his bare chest past the open dress shirt, gaining some warmth from the suit coat he still had on.

Yeah, just wondering. Ebisu sighed inwardly, he had changed, so much since he was asleep. That happiness, that laugh, that annoying rebelling, it was slowly slipping way, like his childhood, what was left of it anyway. He didn't want to see that happen... this wasn't just a job for him anymore He had been with Konohamaru since he was born, more then his parents had been. This boy had single handedly brought him more trouble then anything else in his life with out even trying... it took him nearly getting killed and three months in a coma to realize that... this wasn't just a job, it was his life. Konohamaru was his life, and no one would take his life... ever

! -! - !

! -! - !


	28. Chapter 28 See ya later part 2

Chapter 28: See ya latter part 2

! - ! - !

This chapter is kinda long, I know, but it's important, and I promise if you don't like this one you'll like the next chapter a lot better.

SDI

! - ! - !

"So." Shikamaru sat down on the couch and folded his arms, a quiet thoughtfulness creeping into his voice. "I'm kinda curious, what's in this dream I keep hearing about?"

Ebisu sat down beside the boy, another small shutter crept along his back as he looked around the Uchiha living room. He still felt uneasy in this place, but even more so he felt so disenchimed being the only one that felt this way when everyone else was so casual about this house, this part of town. 'Man, I feel like an idiot...' He took in a deep breath to settle the quell in his chest and thought about the question. Konohamaru had told him everything about Shikamaru, about his 2000 year displacement, about his exceptional mental capacity, not to mention physical... advancement.

Ebisu lent froward, resting his elbows on his knees, he glanced over at Shikamaru, who sat with a camera faithfully in his hands. "You really like that camera huh?"

Shikamaru looked down at the device cradled in his hands, "Yeah."

Ebisu looked at him thoughtfully, then down at the camera. 'Hmm...' "Well, this dream I had when I was in the coma... I don't know, I feel kinda stupid going over this, just a dream right?" Ebisu smirked in amusement at himself, he couldn't believe he was putting so much on a dream. But still, he couldn't ignore this, pride aside he couldn't do that. "Didn't Konohamaru tell you about it?"

"Yeah, but if you feel it's important, the least I can do is acknowledge it." Shikamaru told him. "Anything distinct about it?"

"Well, Orochimaru, that stood out." Ebisu snorted. "And someone, a guy, he was familiar...blue hair...and he had some kinda markings."

"Markings?" Shikamaru inquired, Tilting the camera towards the older man. "What did they look like?"

Ebisu looked up thoughtfully, remembering the image that had burned into his head. Dark markings on pale skin... "They were black, looked like chains almost, a tattoo I think, went all over the guys chest, side of his face too."

"Hmm..." Sounded like the curse seal to Shikamaru, the one he saw on Jiroubou, and everyone else saw on other sound generals. "And you saw Orochimaru was in your dream too." This started to make a creepy kinda sense. "That was one hell of a dream you had."

"Huh?" Ebisu looked fully at Shikamaru, but still his eyes went right to the camera. "What do you mean?"

"You just described Orochimaru's curse seal to a tee. Though..." Shikamaru said. "There was no way you could have know about it since, it wasn't tested until you fell into that coma... I think there is something to this dream of yours."

Ebisu didn't need proof, he already believe it. "So, you think so too?"

Shikamaru didn't rule out anything that happened, not after a said demon attack that happened questioningly long after all of the demons had been eradicated. Not to mention time travel, and altering reality, anything was plausible to him. "Try and remember who that person was, maybe something can come of it." Shikamaru shrugged.

"I guess..." Ebisu sat up strait, noticing the red light under the lense was on meaning the camera was recording. He didn't question it. "This house is creeping me out, I'm going to get some air." The man pressed his fingers to the glasses and pushed them up by the rim.

! - ! - !

Ebisu took in a deep breath of the fresh air outside the Uchiha household as he stepped out on to the porch. He could finally relax a little, being outside now. Ebisu slipped his hands in to his pockets and tilted his head back a little, feeling a cool brush of air washing over him. He'd missed so much... '3 months and I'm and a whole different world, I feel so...out of place here.'

Ebisu looked down questioningly when he saw Zabuza, walking up the stairs toward the front door, though Zabuza didn't take him for a front door type of person. "Zabuza." Ebisu took his hand from his pockets, speaking a lot easier then the last time he saw the man. "Well, looks like I had you all wrong."

Zabuza didn't respond, not that Ebisu expected him too.

Ebisu smirked in amusement as he looked over Zabuza's advancing form, "Since your a good guy now I guess that makes the mask kinda pointless."

Zabuza said nothing as he ascended the last stair and stepped onto the porch, then with out warning he grabbed Ebisu by the neck and shoved him roughly against the wall before the man had and any idea what was happening to him.

"Uhaa!" Ebisu grabbed Zabuza's wrist and struggled to pry the man off of him, but before he could he felt a sharp knee to his stomach causing him to limp slightly and gasp before his airway was pressed shut completely.

"Tell me..." Zabuza slowly reached up and pushed Ebisu's glasses up onto the top of his head, staring into the man's fearful eyes, trembling from the sudden pain. "Where is he? Where is Kabuto?" He growled in dangerously low tones.

Ebisu's first instinct was to use evasive measures, to pry him away and fight back, he knew he could do it, being a member, 'Former member...' of the Secret Service. He'd resign latter. But he repressed it, feeling Zabuza slowly loosening his hold enough to speak at lest. 'W-Why would I know?' "H...How the hell should I know?"

Zabuza watched him carefully, watching every tense, every twitch of Ebisu's muscles in anticipation. Besides being naturally alert from being pressed against the wall by the throat, Ebisu didn't seem to be making a move to fight back. Most people when accused of something such as this and being attacked at the same time would fight back and deny it, only people who truly didn't know anything, or were very good actors, would just stand there like that and do nothing. Ebisu didn't strike him as the acting type.

"I was in a coma." He grunted, pausing to draw in as much air as he could from his compressed throat. "How could I?"

Zabuza stared at him, a silent contemplation unseeable in his eyes. He wondered if -'!' Before Zabuza could reach a conclusion, two strong arms wrapped around his neck and pried him roughly away, nearly throwing him backwards as the pulled him against a strong chest.

"Zabuza what the hell are you doing!" The voice belong to none other then Kakashi.

Zabuza sent a sharp elbow into Kakashi's stomach, feeling the man cringe around his back and shoulders slightly. "I was testing something you idot." He grunted, throwing his head backward into Kakashi, hard, knocking him away of him completely, forcing the man to stagger back a few steps .

"Why!" Kakashi sent a hard punch into the back of Zabuza's head in retaliation, making the man nearly fall to his knees. "He's not a spy." He said firmly,giving Zabuza a hard kick in the back, forcing the man to stumble froward off balance and run into the wall.

The dark haired man threw his hands froward and stopped himself from crashing. "I figured that out on my own." Zabuza turned around and leaned his back against the wall, rubbing the struck spot on the back of his head with annoyment. "Bastard."

"You had it coming." Kakashi clinched his pained nose, hidden beneath his own mask, "What's this all about?"

! - ! - !

Mizuki grunted in annoyment, watching the display unfold at the Uchiha house hold from a concealed location not to far away. He didn't have too much faith that this part of his plan would actually do well to get Ebisu out of the way, leaving him free to take Konohamaru, but from what he'd heard of Zabuza there at lest would be some torture involved before he realized Ebisu didn't know anything. 'He gave up so easily.' Mizuki thought to himself, with clear distaste. At the moment he would have loved to see some pain come Ebisu's way.

Well, too bad, he'd just have to move on. He had preparations to finish, this would be done one way or another. Soon if everything went as planed.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Konohamaru sat questioningly beside Ebisu, looking up at the man with slight worry. He didn't know what was going on completely, but the way Ebisu and Kakashi hand come into the house was enough to wake him. That had to mean it was serious. 'Hmm...' Naruto and Sasuke were off with Gai per a promise Naruto had made to Lee, the one from the past that is, they were so confusing. He'd practically begged Gai to teach him, it wasn't like the man could resist his favorite student, or rather favorite being from 2000 in the past. And they would help, at the very least on a damage control basis. So, that left Konohamaru, and Shikamaru who was sitting on the ground next to him, who had a strong adversity to cars simply because of his experiences with Gai.

Iruka was here as always, as well as Asuma, they were growing close to finishing the repairs.

Having slept here last night, Konohamaru didn't have time to go back and change his clothes. He was currently in the process of getting his stuff from his old room at him with as little noticeablity from everyone as possible. So far he hadn't gathered anything, leaving him still in the suit he'd warn to his grandfather's funeral the previous day. He'd change his clothes, as soon as he figured out what was going on here. "What, what's wrong?"

Kakashi folded his arms and paced around thoughtfully, his eyes fixed on Zabuza "So, who was this guy?"

"Kinda pale, blue hair, dressed Hollywood." Zabuza said, he sat in the chair beside the couch, and was staring to feel as if he was being interrogated. "Called himself Mizuki."

'?' Ebisu's eyes grew slowly wider with a questioning anticipation, did he really just say that name? "Mizuki?"

"Mizuki?" Asuma looked over to Iruka questioningly, he heard that name before..."Didn't you tell me something about a guy with that name?"

Iruka nodded, watching Zabuza with a curious interest. "I'll explain later."

"So, are you usually in the habit of following leads from complete strangers?" Kakashi snorted sarcastically.

"He was more credible then you might think." Zabuza shot back. "He made a good argument, I figured I could at lest give it a chance."

Ebisu adjusted his glasses, snorting with his own bit of amused sarcasm. "Of course he made a good argument, he's a lawyer."

Zabuza, for the second time that day, took an interest in Ebisu. "You know him?"

Ebisu nodded with a sigh, a visible slump came into his form as his mind began drifting backwards, it seemed to return to the past a lot lately."I knew him as well as I knew myself back then." He said, his voice growing with a hint of forlorn sadness creeping into his tone. "He used to be my boyfriend."

"What?" Iruka leaned over the back of the couch and looked at Ebisu in disbelief. "Him? But he...He was Kinda...well he-"

"Was an asshole?" Ebisu said with a small laugh of amusement that turned into a distant grin. "Yeah, it looked that way from the outside. But there was so much more to him then most people knew, he was a great guy, decent lawyer. A little jaded at times, but over all...for 10, crazy years."Ebisu gave a half look over his shoulder. "Asuma, you can ask Kurenai, she worked with him. It was insanely crazy sometimes, but it was great..."

He sounded like he really loved him."Wait a minute." Konohamaru looked up at Ebisu to a child like interest in the subject. "I never saw you with him? You never said anything about him."

"I didn't, we broke up right after you were born." Ebisu told him.

Konohamaru scratched his head slightly, the reference brought of memories he'd only seen in pictures. "Why?"

"You actually." Ebisu didn't seem to feel the need to hold back. "I use to work as a sorta para-legal in training at his law firm, thing was I was still in military.. Heh, Then you were born, and since I was a friend of your father and I had been at his base at the time, I took him to the hospital when your mother went into labor. It still amazes me that it caught him off guard...I ended up being there when you were born..." A smile came to his face when he thought about it, a faint, distant smile only brought out in memory. "Your grandfather and your father trusted me enough to asked me to be your bodyguard, which meant it would be easier to tell you when I was off then the hours I worked, and it was really big pay cut from my regular job. And it also meant I'd practically be leaving Mizuki."

Konohamaru started to comprehend everything Ebisu being his bodyguard entailed, he completely disrupted his personal life, everything for him. 'Ebisu...' "So...you chose me over him?"

"If I didn't I wouldn't be here." Ebisu pushed himself up to his feet and stood up strait, stretching slightly. He was starting to feel awkward, talking about this in front of all these people. "Think that has anything to do with why Zabuza strangled me?"

Shikamaru looked down at the camera in his hands almost as if he was disinterested, "I was thinking more along the lines of the dream you had. You described Mizuki, and tell me, would he do something as drastic as go to Orochimaru."

"He was pretty mad." Ebisu sighed. "And he was never too keen on following the rules, ironic really. I'm not sure I would put anything past him." The way Mizuki had been when he told him that he had inadvertently picked a kid that wasn't his over him, he didn't put it past Mizuki.

Konohamaru shifted around with the collar of his shirt. "So, we shouldn't go find out for ourselves?"

The gathered group looked around at each other, at first glance it seemed that this didn't warrant much of an investigation, but all of this together. "He's right, let's go ask him." Iruka pushed himself off the back of the couch and dusted himself off intently.

"Yeah, probably." Asuma sighed, it didn't look like he'd be finishing this job today as he'd hoped.

"Zabuza, do you have any idea where he might be?" Kakashi asked.

Zabuza stood up, the annoyance he was feeling began to fade, it looked like this wasn't a waste of time after all."A very good one." He said, his voice twinging with anticipation.

Konohamaru, almost loyally, pushed himself off the couch and stood up, preparing to follow when he felt Ebisu's hand on his shoulder. "You can stay here." The man said, much to his disappointment.

Konohamaru looked up at the man with a serious expression, standing firmly as he could full of either persistence or just plain stubbornness. "No way, I'm going with you." He said surely.

Ebisu rubbed the back of his neck with an aspirated sigh, he didn't say anything for a moment, almost as if he was in thought, before he finally dropped down on to one knee and brought himself face to face with the boy. "I don't know what this is gonna be like-"

"You said he was a lawyer, what could he do to me." Konohamaru protested. "With everyone there?"

Just the mention of Mizuki kept bringing his mind back to the dream he had, whether he wanted to think about it or not. He couldn't ignore it, whenever he tried to push it aside and discard it, a sinking feeling grew, quelling nauseatingly in his stomach, telling him not too. With everything, including Shikamaru, telling him this could actually be something, he decided there was no harm in going with it. He'd let what happened next prove him right or wrong. "There's a good chance this could be dangerous." He said, though still sounding unsure of himself. "I don't want you getting hurt."

"And it could be nothing...I'm coming." Konohamaru nodded, besides, he couldn't stay here, not by himself, not after what happened last time. As valid an argument as that was, that wasn't his reason for going. "I...I'm not gonna leave you to do this alone, If he's with Orochimaru I want to see him too."

Ebisu scratched his head, he barely knew what he was suppose to do now...Well, 5 other people were going, Konohamaru was safer with them then he was here by himself. And besides, what danger could Mizuki pose?...If he didn't know any better, Konohamaru was looking up at him apologeticly... "Alright, just stay close." As soon as Ebisu allowed it he felt better, being able to protect Konohamaru again and keep him close. It usually wouldn't have been so strong a feeling had not all those things happened while he was gone.

Konohamaru felt a small smile twinge at the side of his mouth, he'd get to see him, the guy Ebisu gave up for him. He felt guilty, but most of that guilt was overridden by the prospect that this man could be working with someone like Orochimaru.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"This is the place." Zabuza roughly pried open the door to an old hanger, ravaged by the deadly storm a while back, as well as the sound attack somewhat recently. The steel walls were holding on, despite a few holes in the ceiling and the lack of power making the structure much to dark for their liking. "Guy said he'd be somewhere around here." Which was why Zabuza barely trusted him that much.

"Why would he be here?" Iruka slowly crept into the structure, feeling a sense of familiarity since it was just like the one his own plane resided in. Asuma followed, striding carefully through the darkness.

"I'm starting to believe this isn't completely on the up and up." Ebisu snorted sarcastically as he lifted his hands out of his pockets and began staring around at the broken windows mounted impossibly high along the walls between the ceiling. Konohamaru followed obediently, and Shikamaru came in last, on guard.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, peering around the darkness scrutinizingly. In the blink of an eye, completely inane it was apart of him, as sure as he felt his own arm he felt the lack of light as if it was tangible. It was heavy, an appendage he couldn't quiet move completely, but he could surely feel through it and see through it. "It's a-" Before he could finish speaking what he saw, the heavy door slid shut on mechanical tracks behind him, clouding the room and almost pitch black darkness. Shikamaru rubbed his forehead almost in annoyment. "-A trap."

'!' Asuma quickly took a quick step back, just in time to feel the rush of wind of a blow being lunched at him from some silent attacker. Then with skillful movements he stepped froward and thrust his arm outward, grasping the attacker by the neck and dragging him into the light. He got a good look at him now, a man in a blue uniform, a soldier's uniform, Sound in particular. "What a surprise, their sound." Asuma gave him a rough kick to the stomach and knocked him back, reaching for his holster, only to remember he didn't bring his gun, none of them did.

"For goodness sake." Iruka took a few steps backwards, sense his senses were nearly as keen as the men around him. "Shikamaru, how many of them do you see?"

"A lot, they're moving around too much to tell." Shikamaru couldn't get a clear number, his new ability for seeing in the dark wasn't hone enough for this type of precision.

"Damnit." Ebisu immediately took a step in front of Konohamaru defensively, his now bare eyes shifting around defensively. "I can't stand here, what the hell am I suppose to do with Konohamaru." He couldn't leave the boy alone to go fight, Konohamaru would be an easy target...maybe bringing him along wasn't a good idea.

"Ebisu, on the far side of the room there should be a door that goes to the basement." Asuma instructed, he threw a hard elbow back into a man approaching from behind, pivoting on one foot and throwing a hard punch blindly and feeling it connect to the man's jaw. "Go through the boiler room and out the back door."

Without hesitation, Ebisu grabbed Konohamaru by the hand and bolted into the shadows, nearly dragging the non-protesting along with him. Shikamaru instinctively covered them, having no problem exporting them across the room with his viability, no matter how limited it was. With a ninja's skill and quickness he drew what remaining shirukens he had at his enemies, until they reached the door Asuma had spoke of, Shikamaru stood behind Konohamaru defensively fighting off anyone who came their way.

"Damnit, it's rusted shut." Ebisu kicked at the rusty, metal door with a loud clatter, but that clatter was starting to be over ridden by the sounds of men no longer making any effort to conceal themselves. "I need something to pry it open..."

"Try this." Shikamaru reached into the holder on his waist and drew his last Kunai, and though reluctant to part with it, he still tossed the blade blindly behind him to the man.

Ebisu snatched it out of the air by the handle, unable to spend enough time studying it as he would have liked, and preyed it into the cracks around the door frame. 'Come on...' He quickly scrapped away the rust from the cracks and kick the door, thankfully hearing it swing open. "Konohamaru."

"Yeah."Following orders, Konohamaru ran through first and Ebisu shut it behind them.

"Well, now that he's out of the way." Asuma slipped a hand into his pocket and quickly withdrew a cigarette. Holding it in his mouth, he with retrieved his lighter from his opposite pocket and lit the tobacco, releasing his first inhale with deep breath in a cloud of smoke. Hearing the sounds of men scattered around him, he pounded his fist into his hand and hoped who he took aim at wasn't a friend.

! - ! - !

Ebisu treaded carefully down the stairs, Konohamaru obediently trailing behind him like a lost puppy. "What is that?" Konohamaru started to relax a little when he descended the narrow stairway enough to see a faint light drifting from under a slightly opened metal shutter.

Apparently this place had power...so why wasn't it on upstairs?

"I don't know." Ebisu pushed the glasses down from where they rested atop his head and readjusted them customarily over his eyes. Seeing as it was the only way to go, he knelt down on the landing and pried open the shutter a little over halfway up it's track. "I think this is it..." Ebisu allowed Konohamaru to go first and slipped in himself.

It was the boiler room just as Asuma said, but it was an open one, in the center of the room was a water heater among other machines, from that bunch sprouted an abundance of pipes that spread up into the ceiling, some to the gray concrete walls. Aside from that the room was a large circle in path and shape, across the room was another doorway, covered by a metal shutter also barely open. "That's it, come-"

"Ebisu, I never knew you to be the impatient type."

Ebisu nearly flinched when he heard the voice, that familiar voice, and that almost completely different form slipping from behind the mass of machines in the center of the room. "Mizuki?" Ebisu pressed his fingers against the rim of his glasses and pushed them on to his head as the stared at the man with naked eyes in disbelief. "Mizuki."

Mizuki rested his hand on his hips, open black button up-shirt, black jeans, boots, uninhibited blue hair, and those eyes Ebisu was so fond of. He was a few inches taller, his clearly more toned, defined torso shown off. His arms were larger, muscles now protruding where their were none, where ever he'd been during their separation, it involved training. "Long time no see Ebisu, you and the brat together, what a surprise."

Ebisu tensed, this was not the Mizuki he knew, he could see that even beyond the physical strength the man clearly ... "Mizuki? What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you." With a small flick of his wrist a hunting blade slipped from someplace up his sleeve, he took a delight he couldn't explain in seeing the look on Ebisu's face, seeing his surprise and fear . "And him."

Konohamaru's eyes narrowed uneasily.

Ebisu looked down at the Kunai in his hand , his eyes darting over the thin blade. "What the hell... you didn't you? You went to Orochimaru, is this what this is? Your working for him now?"

Mizuki took another steep closer, playing with the knife in his left hand. "This isn't about him, it's all about me and you, and that bastard."

Konohamaru's uneasiness was quickly relinquishing to anger, "Lacky." He spat bitterly.

"Smart mouth brat you have there." Mizuki laughed with clear amusement. "Don't worry, I'll get to you once I'm done with him."

"Mizuki, you've done some...questionable things but selling out to Orochimaru?" Ebisu spoke with slight confusion, but his hands were sure, clinching the blade in ready. "No matter how mad you were about-"

"You never were very quick on the draw were you Ebisu." Mizuki smirked "About you? I'll show you what it's about." Mizuki cuffed his hands together and his eyes narrowed slightly, his body grew tight enough to cause him to tremble slightly.

"Mizuki..." Both Ebisu and Konohamaru watched, almost stunned while a fiery red light spread across Mizuki's chest, climbing his neck and torso, sliding over his shoulders, slipping over the side of his face. Then the burning lights cooled into black, chain like markings, the curse seal. Just like the one in Ebisu's dream. 'What... the hell...' Ebisu lifted his Kunai and pushed Konohamaru to the right roughly. "Konohamaru, get out of here, now."

Konohamaru nodded and sprinted away from the entrance, bolting towards the other door, "No, stick around." Mizuki smirk grew into a wide grin as he lifted his hand and the metal shutters came crashing shut.

"Aw, Damnit." Seeing his escape route closed, Konohamaru began inching back towards Ebisu.

..._Ennnnnn_...

There was a small buzzing sound as something, something on top of the mass of machines in the center of the room activated, followed by a beeping red light that pulsated every second. "What are you doing?" Ebisu grunted dangerously, "What did you do?"

Mizuki grinned, taking another step closer. "You never were smart, were you? No wonder you couldn't pass the bar exam." He pointed up to a large box on top of the machines in the center of the boiler room, "This is a bomb." Then he pointed upstairs. "And that, that is those friends of the brats locked upstairs."

It didn't take long for Konohamaru to figure it out, "You bastard! Your gonna kill everybody, for Orochimaru!" Orochimaru of course wanted them all dead, they kept getting in his way. 'He...he's using Ebisu's boyfriend to do it...that...that bastard...'

Mizuki continued to play with the knife in his hands idly, almost in boredom. "Not you." He said, gaining a scowl from Konohamaru.

Ebisu lifted the Kunai offensively, and with a deep breath he pushed aside the memories and lunged at the man coming towards Konohamaru, jabbing the knife at his stomach. "Shut it down."

Mizuki easily lifted his right hand holding the hunting knife and blocked the awkward blow, not losing his smirk or stance one bit. "Make me."

Ebisu drew the knife back and in a quick motion, slashed it towards Mizuki's chest, but Mizuki lifted his own blade and blocked Ebisu, in a simple motion as if wiping sweat from his brow. "I'm not asking _you_!" He grunted, pushing back against Mizuki's knife.

Konohamaru jumped when he realized he was the one being addressed. "Oh, yeah!" Konohamaru immediately ran from behind Ebisu and ran towards the water heater, climbing up the tank, grabbing anything he could to get higher. Ebisu was asking him to do something like _this_, it made Konohamaru's heart jump and his skin tingle with energy. Ebisu was always so protective, and now he was asking him to do something so dangerous, he trusted him enough to let him do this, possibly the worst thing he could screw up in his life. 'I wont let you down Ebisu.'

Mizuki reached down with his free hand and ceased Ebisu's thrusting hand by the wrist, throwing his elbow into Ebisu's face painfully and causing the man to stumble backwards. "Your gonna feel it." He grunted, with movement's quick enough only to be a blur of black and blue, he crossed the gap between the two of them, before the other man could realize the steps Mizuki had taken they were dangerously close. "I'm gonna show you every inch of my strength!" He sent a hard punch into Ebisu's stomach, sending the man flying backwards a few feet in the air before crashing to his stomach.

'Wha...what the hell...' Ebisu gasped, panting heavily at the sharp pain. 'What did...what did he do to himself?" Ebisu stumbled to his feet quickly, clinching the knife tightly in his grasp. "So what is this?" He grunted weakly, taking a stab at Mizuki's chest with the knife, watching the man slip to the side evasively. "The new steroids?" Ebisu took a strife to his side when Mizuki came at him with his own blade, turning to face the man that put him on the run with a furry of quick attacks, backing him farther and father.

Mizuki's smile grew wider, it was amusing, fun even, watching Ebisu try in futility to evade and defend, he was just getting started. "That's the problem with you Ebisu." Mizuki sent a swift punch at Ebisu, striking him hard across his jaw, then threw another dazing blow to his chest, knocking Ebisu back into the metal shutters he'd entered the room through. "Your too simple, only you would say something like that. This...this is so much more then you can imagine."

Ebisu crouched slightly and slipped to the left as the hunting knife in Mizuki's hands embedded itself halfway into the steel shudders, only inches way from impaling him. "I don't give a damn what it is, a cheaters still a cheater, no matter the method." Ebisu, still crouched slightly, thrusting the knife at Mizuki's side, but Mizuki caught his wrist again. '!' Ebisu, almost frantically, sent a hard punch into Mizuki's other side with his fist, then shoved the hardest kick he could into the taller man's stomach and forced him off.

Konohamaru franticly looked over the bomb, unaware of what anything was besides the timer, counting down from 7 minutes. there was a chain link platform above all the machines, protecting it maybe, but it served ground of him and the bulky bomb 'Zabuza, where are you when I need you!' With wide, fearful eyes and movements he began frantically pressing buttons and flipping switches, _Buzz_! "Wha!" He flinched when he heard a denying buzz, What the hell was he suppose to be doing? "Come on, turn off damnit..." He just hoped that he didn't set it off.

Ebisu, with a slight opportunity, lifted his hands readily and took a stab at Mizuki's head. "I'm the stupid one?" He took another stab at Mizuki, and missed. "Even a lawyer could lie his way out of this, this isn't real power, this is Orochimaru using you to get what he wants!"

Mizuki slipped under Ebisu's arm as he attacked and grabbed Ebisu by the neck, lifting him painfully of his feet. A satisfaction washed over him as he heard the strangled cries of Ebisu attempting to pry his hand away. "How do you know I'm not using him to get what I want?" He smiled again .

! - ! - !

"Damnit!" Iruka practically knocked the door open as he rushed into his apartment, a place he rarely came back to since the storm."Why didn't I see it, it was so obvious."

"Calm down." Asuma coaxed the man, entering the apartment behind Iruka and looking around curiously. Escape had not been impossible, it had been hard, and dark, but they had fought off the seemingly endless torrent of men before Shikamaru noticed a weak spot in one of the reachable holes and pried it open. The only problem was that Ebisu and Konohamaru were nowhere to be found, which meant they could only be trapped in the basement. Not that any one of them could get down there with more then one metal shutter barring access, those obviously hadn't been there before.

It was clear that Mizuki had infact set them up, not that it came as a surprise, meaning they had to find Ebisu and Konohamaru, quickly. A bomb would have been a simple solution, though Zabuza didn't cary nearly enough to explosives on him for the job, and as if things needed to get harder, more solders came bursting into the hanger. Since it would take a considerably greater amount of time for Zabuza to obtain more explosives, Iruka decided he had a much faster solution, since his apartment was near the hanger anyway.

"So, what are you looking for?" Asuma watched from the kitchen as Iruka ran into his bedroom and began loudly displacing things in search. He waited patiently, it wasn't like he had much of a choice.

It wasn't more then a few seconds before he returned. "This." Iruka came rushing back in to the room with Kabuto's rail gun hypervelocity cradled tightly in his arms.

Causing the cigarette to fall promptly from Asuma's mouth when his eyes met the emensly large silver weapon. "Uh...What is that?"

"What I'm gonna use to break that door open, come on."

! - ! - !

Ebisu let out a pained grunt as he felt his throat being crushed and his body being hanged as Mizuki held him off the ground by his neck. Ebisu's hands clinched desperately on to his arm and pulled as hard as he could, the pitiful sounds seeping from his pained face echoing off the concrete walls and floors, back into his ears. 'He's so strong...and fast...' "Mi..uki!"

"Ebisu!" Konohamaru contemplated jumping down to help, but each beep he heard radiating from the time bomb in front of him snapped his attention back to the device. 6 minutes left.

"Don't worry, I'll get to you soon enough." Mizuki called out with amusement at the boy's reaction. He was enjoying this more the he'd ever admit, seeing Ebisu, the one who was always strong then them, the fighting-type of the two of them, losing in such a horrible way.

"The hell you will! I'll not gonna be killed by somebody like you!"

"Tch, Orochimaru wants you alive." Mizuki told him, he could see the boy visibly grow unnerved by his words. '!' He snapped out of his satisfaction when he felt the blade of a knife rack roughly across the side of his face, followed by a hard kick to the same spot from Ebisu. "Ugf!" Mizuki fell back a step, inadvertently releasing Ebisu.

"The hell you will." Ebisu quickly thrust the Kunai at Mizuki's marked torso, but with the same reflexes the curse seal inflicted man stabbed the knife downward and blocked, throwing a countering punch into Ebisu's chest. Ebisu took the blow with visible pain, but managed to stand his ground this time and throw a quick jab into Mizuki's face, going on the offensive with the Kunai again. "Your just a fake, you and your all your fake strength and your fake power, that's what lawyers do right? Lie?"

"Shows what you know." With a blur of quick movements Mizuki slipped past Ebisu's side and threw a hard punch into the back of Ebisu's head, sending the man sliding to the ground. "Power's the only real thing, with power you don't have to be weak enough to depend on anyone else." Mizuki scowled, with a short leap he landing above the fallen Ebisu and thrust the hunting knife down at his head without hesitation. Ebisu shifted his head to the side and flinched as Mizuki's strength drove the knife halfway into the concrete with a painful grating sound. "Like people who forsake everything and everyone else for a stupid brat." He growled in anger, drawing his fist back and sending a hard punch across Ebisu's face, knocking off his glasses with a spew of blood thrown from the man's mouth and an abrasion newly created on his cheek.

Ebisu hissed in pain as he pushed against Mizuki's shoulder and slashed the knife across his chest, drawing a good deal of blood of his own. "That's your problem, to busy arguing to understand anything!" Ebisu lifted his knee and shoved his foot into Mizuki's stomach, kicking the man off, and watching him flip backwards and land skillfully on his feet. "I clearly made the right choice." Ebisu flipped onto his feet and came at a still recovering Mizuki with the knife, thrusting it at his exposed neck.

The man managed to escape him once again, Mizuki flipped backward again, sending a hard kick into Ebisu's chin as his body ascended impossibly higher in to the air, managing to leap with inhuman bounds at to the small platform Konohamaru was working desperately at. "Wrong." With an amused smirk he sent a hard kick backwards into Konohamaru's chest, knocking the boy painfully off of the 15 foot maintenance structure. "Pick that move up in Sound, like it?"

"!" Stunned by the painful hit, Konohamaru still managed to latch onto a pipe and pull himself to the top of hit with a balance taught to him by Itachi, though he wavered slightly, he still didn't fall.

Ebisu stumbled back a step, wiping away the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. Seeing that Konohamaru was fine. "Big deal."Ebisu charged forward, taking a high jump towards the other man and rising nearly 7 feet, then skillfully he kicked off one of the machines. His body bent backwards and with a agile flip he sent a hard kick into a surprised Mizuki's face, then landed on the edge of the platform, face to face with the man. "See, I can do it without cheating." He grunted, throwing another jab at Mizuki with the knife.

Mizuki grabbed Ebisu's arm and pulled him into his thrusting shoulder, knocking the air roughly from the man's lungs with an audible gasp, and then throwing him down on to the chain link platform. "Your the weak one!" Mizuki shouted, kicking Ebisu in the chest and forcing a pained sound from his lungs. "Your the one about to die!"

Ebisu rolled on to his stomach and stabbed the knife into Mizuki's leg, causing the man to falter slightly. With his chance, Ebisu crawled to his feet and sent a punch into Mizuki's stomach with all his strength. "Bastard." Ebisu went for the knife in Mizuki's hand, but he wasn't fast enough make another move before the much quicker Mizuki thrust the bladed weapon deep into Ebisu's stomach. "!" Ebisu's voice went silent, and he stumbled backwards, blood flowing down his lower have in heavy streams. "Uhhff..."

"Is this it?" Mizuki laughed, "Is this the best you've got? And I'm the one without _real_ power." With callous words he lifted his foot and sent a hard kick into Ebisu's stomach, thrusting the knife in deeper with a spurt of blood while his strength swept the man off his feet and sent him sailing backwards, off the maintenance platform. Then he knelt down and withdrew the Kunai from his leg and tossed it at Ebisu.

Ebisu's seemingly hopeless body landed painfully across two of the large pipes heading in to the walls, not to far away from a worried Konohamaru. "Ebisu!" Konohamaru almost immediately started making his way over to him, striding across the large gaps on the pipes high above.the circular room.

"Could have been worse." Ebisu lifted his hand and snatched it out of the air, his bare eyes narrowed, trembling in pain as he grabbed the handle of the hunting knife and slowly pulled it out, twisting and turning it softly to avoid hooking something with the jagged edges. With a grunt of pain he drew his arm back and tossed the knife into the approaching Mizuki's leg with enough force to knock him off balance and send him stumbling to the ground. With out hesitation Ebisu pushed himself up right and leapt off the pipes. "Could have stabbed me in the heart you dumb ass!" Ebisu landed in front of the fallen Mizuki and sent a sharp kick into his face, knocking the man on to his back.

Ebisu thrust the Kunai down at Mizuki, who promptly kicked him away before he could, making Ebisu stumble backwards. 'Damnit...' Mizuki struggled to stand on both injured legs, blood dripping down the black marked torso from the slash. "You won't win."

! - ! - !

Iruka knelt down, slipping the back of the rail gun under his arm while he stared with slight confusion at the display streaming across the small LCD screen above the barrel. It was complicated, somewhat confusing, this clearly was a weapon Kabuto designed. But flying and fighting in a jet was too, he'd get this down, eventually.

"So this was...Kabuto's?" Kakashi stood safely behind the man, watching curiously though the bare light. "Sure it's a big gun, but is it enough for this?"

Iruka knew just what this thing was capable of, at full power...maybe. "Just watch."

! - ! - !

Ebisu watched as Konohamaru came behind him and made his way back on to the maintenance platform, working diligently on the bomb with randomness, hoping for some luck. Immediately his heart began pounding, adrenalin, and despite the blood rushing even faster from his wounds, he barely felt a thing he, had to protect Konohamaru. And he wouldn't let anyone, even Mizuki, take him.

"I don't care about your so called power." Ebisu threw a hard punch at Mizuki, who leaned back slightly and evaded, throwing one of his own that struck Ebisu in the chest. Ebisu stood firm, but he slid backwards a few inches under the other man's power. "I-I don't care how strong you think you are!" His words stumbled from the last blow while Ebisu swayed to the side as Mizuki, much slower, threw a punch at him. Ebisu hooked the man's arm between his shoulder and his neck entrapingly, grabbing Mizuki by the waist and picking him up, with his own strength he lifted the taller man and slammed him roughly on his back. Pouncing on him with the Kunai.

Mizuki sent a right hook to Ebisu's face and knocked off, again stumbling slowly to his feet on injured legs. "I am strong."

"I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you hurt him, not you, not Orochimaru." Ebisu, faster now, slipped to the left, feeling a rush of wind and the feeling of a form cutting through air as Mizuki's fist slipped narrowly past his side. Ebisu sent another hard punch into Mizuki's face, followed by a swift kick into one of Mizuki's legs, making him fall off balance.

"Come on... com on..." Konohamaru had no idea what he was doing, but he was getting somewhere, he'd stopped getting that buzzing sound. '!' "Hey!" He watched as the blinking red light switched to green and timer stopped at 1 minute and 20 seconds. Maybe his luck was changing.

"I'm stronger then you Ebisu! I don't need you!" Mizuki thew another punch at Ebisu, but with out the speed to back it up, Ebisu easily crouched down and slipped under it.

"You still can't fight!" Ebisu clinched the Kunai in his hand and with one, rough movement he thrust the blade into Ebisu's chest as hard as he could. '!' As soon as he felt the resistance of flesh he pulled back and stabbed again, and again, as hard as he could. "It's not real! Your not real anymore! I don't care if you went to the gym, I don't care if you went to Orochimaru, your not real." Ebisu sent one last thrust into him, causing Mizuki to stumble backward, and fall, plummeting off the ledge. "Your...not him anymore..."

Konohamaru smiled wilding in disbelief at his feat, he wrapped his arms around Ebisu's legs and hugged him tightly, protectively, needly, thankfully. "I did it, the bomb is off."

Ebisu rubbed his head slightly, staring outward almost as if in a daze, in his own disbelief. "I knew you could."

Usually something like that was rhetorical, but Konohamaru couldn't help feel unsure, unsure of the man was telling the truth, or had just let him do it out of necessity. "No way." Konohamaru shook his head, there was no way anyone could have thought that

"Yeah, really." Ebisu nodded, speaking honestly. "Something told me you could." Konohamaru smiled and hugged him tighter, happy that he was alright.

"B-bastard..." Mizuki slowly sat up, drawing the Kunai from his stomach and tossing it aside. His arm hugged the wound tightly, trying to stop as much of the bleeding as he could. "This isn't over." He grunted, the black marks of the curse seal glowing again with that fiery aura, spreading deeper and farther across his skin. "I won't lose, not to you, not to that little bastard!" He pushed himself up on to his feet , slumping heavily. "NOt to-" '!'

Out of nowhere it seemed, a beam of electricity burst from someplace unknown and stuck Mizuki in the back, throwing his body across the room and sliding to a bloody mess on the floor. The blood bubbling and burning away from the intense heat. "I don't think he's getting back up." Konohamaru immediately looked away, burying his face into Ebisu's leg in the most un child like manner he could manage.

Ebisu glance toward the source of the blast and saw the metal shutter fall from it's track, Iruka standing on the other side with a large weapon in his hands.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Is it after noon yet?" Asuma scratched his head absentmindly, reaching into his pocket for another cigarette, he needed one right now. "Man, what a day." With a deep sigh he pushed open the door to the Uchiha household and trudged in.

"After noon?" Iruka looked up at him intriguingly, following behind the man as he walked over to the couch and let himself fall into it. "Why, you want a drink or something?"

"That's exactly what I want." Asuma tilted his head back, letting the cigarette drift absently to the side of his mouth.

"Your making a lot of sense right now." Kakashi agreed,leaning against the side of the couch beside Iruka's shoulder.

Shikamaru mounted himself lazily on the ground in front of the couch, cradling his arm softly. "Your going drinking _now_?"

"Damn strait." Asuma blew out a small cloud of smoke, and soon after the tip of the cigarette glowed a bright red.

"How about it Zabuza?" Iruka tilted his head back and glanced at Zabuza standing silently as ever in the corner.

"Tch, This guy," Zabuza nudged his head toward Ebisu, who was just coming through the door. "Just killed my most forth coming lead, I think I need one."

"How about you Ebisu? Can I buy the big hero a drink?" Asuma asked.

Ebisu pressed his finger against the rim of his sunglasses and pushed them up slightly. "A drink sound good."

One by one, everyone over the age of 21 began piling out of the room, Shikamaru, boredly, headed out on his own. "Go ahead, I'll catch up with you." Ebisu said, waving them along.

! - ! - !

Ebisu slowly pushed open the door to the guest room he'd slept in last night, the familiar uneasy feeling of the house creeping upon him once again. 'Hmm...' He found Konohamaru laid back across the bed, his eyes closed lazily, apparently trying to return to sleep.

Konohamaru open his eyes at the sound of footsteps and looked over the man curiously. 'Ebisu? I thought you were going out."

"Don't worry about that." Ebisu folded his arms and looked over the boy with an amused smile. "Not bad if I do say so myself, how do you feel?"

"Alright I guess." Konohamaru shrugged. "But I really don't feel like I deserve that."

Not the answer he was expecting. "Geez kid, you are a piece of work aren't you." Ebisu snorted.

"No really, I turned off that bomb by luck." Konohamaru said, his eyes averting themselves to the floor."I didn't help anyone or anything, I just hit buttons."

"Did it ever occur to you that you were one of the people that needed to be helped?" Ebisu said, he slowly sat down beside the boy, resting his hand in the messy brown hair as Konohamaru sat up strait and looked at him fully.

"No..." Konohamaru looked up at the ceiling, a thoughtfulness on his face Ebisu rarely saw him display. "It never did... "

"And it only took a little push from me." Ebisu laid back on the bed beside Konohamaru, watching the boy's form intently from behind. From here he looked taller, 3 months and he was so much bigger, and not in stature.

"Hey Ebisu." Konohamaru laid back beside the older man, resting his arms behind his head. "Can I ask you something?" He didn't wait for the answer, he already knew it, he just took a deep breath and gathered his nerve. "Why...did you leave him? Why did you take this job?"

Ebisu vaguely remembered having this conversation in some form. Maybe Konohamaru wanted a complete answer this time. "I couldn't say no, the first time I picked you up...I guess Mizuki couldn't understand that." If he had held Konohamaru in his arms, if he'd felt that feeling of love with no reason or explanation, maybe Mizuki would have understood it... Maybe Mizuki did...maybe that's why he took his choice so hard. 'Mizuki...' It was a hard, it was long, it was a tiring job. All those nights Konohamaru couldn't sleep, when he had a nightmare, when he missed his parents, all those little moments he wished they could have been there. Ebisu was there, and he couldn't help being more and more content with his decision, it made all the other things Konohamaru put him through worth while.

"You know..." Konohamaru smiled to himself. "Orochimaru spent a lot of time making me afraid, I know this whole thing with Orochimaru isn't close to being over yet...but I...I feel like I can do this, I don't think I'm afraid of him anymore. I'm ready for anything he can throw at me. I mean, look at Mizuki."

Ebisu smiled lightly. "I always knew it...I just needed you to know it to..."

Konohamaru looked over at him fully, his eyes holding a hopefulness."So all that stuff about a deal with the devil and-"

"All completely true." Ebisu said surely, he clearly meant what he said. He was in a very corruptible environment, and being of such a young age he could easily turn out to be the wrong type of person. "But I think you'll come through this alright in the end." He said, a forlorn expression coming on to his face as he slowly pushed himself off the bed and stood up. "It's just too bad I'm not gonna be here to see it."

"Huh? Your not gonna say anything about Zabuza, or me hanging out with Itachi and Kisame?" Konohamaru sat up, looking at the man questioningly. "What are you talking about? It's not like some things gonna happen to you... Your not leaving are you?"

Ebisu stared at the wall, his hands slipping into his pockets. "Yeah, I am. Sorry kid, but this just isn't me anymore."

Konohamaru stared at him, almost as if in shock at what was being said. "Ebisu?" No way, Ebisu had left his boyfriend of 10 year and just killed him for him, he wouldn't leave. He nearly died and went through a coma for him, he couldn't leave...right? Right?... he...he was wasn't he... Konohamaru eyes dropped to the ground, "...Ebisu..."

"This job, I'm just not..." Ebisu's voice faltered slightly as a sadness swelled up in him, it was a pain in his chest that made it harder to breathe and his throat dry. As soon as Konohamaru heard it, his worse fear was realized, "I'm not that person anymore."

"Your really leaving..." Konohamaru slid off the bed and stood behind the man, his eyes still downcast. "But...why...you just got back, why do you have to leave now?" Konohamaru nearly pouted, his eyes swelling up with sudden tears that he pushed back, but he couldn't contain a small sniffle that emitted from him. At times like these he showed just how young he was.

"I'm sorry." Ebisu turned around, his eyes hidden under the black lenses. He rested a hand softly on the boy's head, smiling comfortingly as best he could. But it was weak, his remorse shown through. "We're just on different paths now, and this isn't mine, it's yours."

He was leaving, he was really leaving, just like that he was gonna leave."You...have to go now?" Konohamaru asked pleadingly.

"Yeah, goodbyes aren't my thing." Ebisu slowly let his hand fall from Konohamaru's shoulder, savoring the touch with visible hesitance before he turned away and began walked towards the door. Already he could hear Konohamaru's sniffles grow worse and silent cries drifting out of the boy's mouth. This was just so hard... Ebisu felt tears coming to his own eyes, hidden beyond the glasses. Damnit, Konohamaru couldn't cry, not now, didn't he know this was hard for him too? He had to know he didn't want to do this, it just had to be this way, he had to know he was horrible with goodbyes right? Damnit, Konohamaru had to stop crying, because if he kept crying then he'd start. "Aw hell." Ebisu quickly wiped away the small drops of water forming in his eyes and turned around towards Konohamaru, more depression swelling up so strongly he felt like he'd burst.. "One for the road?"

Ebisu knelt down and immediately Konohamaru ran to him, throwing his arms around the man and hugging him with all the strength his smaller body could gather. He didn't hold back, letting everything pint up inside of him flow out in loud sobs and heavy tears. "Ebisu..." He burred his face into the man's chest and let his body fall limply into Ebisu's returned embrace. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity to him, he cried.

Ebisu's arms tightened around the small body and he let his chin rest a top the messy brown hair. "Konohamaru..." The man spoke softly, his voice barely above a whisper. "You don't need me to protect you anymore, you've done so much with out me, I know it's hard right now but you can do this, I know you can."

"I'm sorry Ebisu..." Konohamaru slipped his arm from around Ebisu's neck and wiped away the tears frantically with his wrist, forcing a strait look on to his face. "I'm sorry for all the stuff I put you through."

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about." Ebisu rested his hands on Konohamaru's shoulder and pushed the boy back, staring at him directly in the eyes. He picked up the glasses resting on his head by the rim and softly lifted them up, giving them one last look. Then he he pulled the goggles off of Konohamaru's head and set the black sunglasses over his eyes. 'He's growing up so fast.' He smiled to himself as he looked over the boy's face, they fit him better then he expected. "I'm always gonna be there when you need me."

Konohamaru adjusted the glasses on his face thankfully, finally able to see the world through Ebisu's eyes. It was pretty dark, Ebisu must have had really good eyesight. "Really?"

Ebisu stood up, the smile on his face never fading. "Yeah."

Konohamaru heard the distance sounds of a ringing..the phone, for the second time in two days the phone was actually ringing. Here. Maybe it was Sasuke or something, the Uchiha knew that there was always one person in his house at any given time. "You know, we can just-"

Ebisu wiped away the last traces of tears from his eyes, "Come on, let's go see who it is, aren't you curious? It could be important " He knelt down one more time and picked up Konohamaru, setting the boy on his shoulders and holding him with one hand.

Konohamaru, though a little surprised by the action, didn't object. He felt a familiar safety in being carried like this. "Yeah, Ok."

The two slipped out of the room and into the long, empty hall that spanned the second floor, Ebisu's footsteps echoed across the empty walls as he stepped over the hardwood floors and treaded down the newly repaired stairs to the familiar living room. A cold chill swept threw the room, making it subtilty colder here then the rest of the house. Konohamaru didn't have time to investigate the cause, he slipped off of Ebisu's shoulder and headed toward the kitchen.

"Hey Konohamaru." Ebisu called out, rubbing his head slightly, "I'm proud of you."

Konohamaru felt an inward tinge of a mental smile. "Your talking like your gonna leave before I get back."

Ebisu let his hand come to rest on his waist. "I'd never do that." He said, watching the boy take the answer and slip into the kitchen to find the phone, he followed him into the room, leaning absentmindly against the door while he watched the boy. 'I'd never leave you like that...Konohamaru...I'm always gonna be there when you need me.' "Oh yeah, and your welcome for the help."

Konohamaru had at first forgotten where the phone was, he'd never used it here, he didn't think anyone had ever really used it, not noticed it. He reached up to the wall and pulled the receiver from the base, lifting it slowly to his ears. "Hello?"

He listened intently as a representative called for Sasuke to give a message to him, they seemed to have figured out that the Uchiha lived here, and even stranger yet that he knew Konohamaru. "What? But that's impossible, he's right here." Konohamaru's face contorted in confusion, lowering the phone for a moment. "Hey Ebisu, you won't believe this." He said with an amusement, though he didn't find anything funny. Konohamaru glanced over his shoulder at the man, "Ebisu, it's the hospital, they think your...They think... your..." Konohamaru's voice trailed off slightly when he saw no one was there.

'E...Ebisu...' Konohamaru looked around slowly, almost as if in a shocked disbelief, he wasn't here... Konohamaru quickly pushed open the kitchen door and looked around the living room...he wasn't there...he couldn't have gotten out of here with out him noticing, he could couldn't have just left like that, he promised he wouldn't... 'No...'

...Konohamaru lifted the phone to his ear again, his eyes staring down at the ground with a feeling of death he'd never felt before. The cold chill was gone, and the room warmed slightly... "Yeah... I'm still here..., When...when did he die?" Konohamaru went to wipe the tears that blurred his vision, but his hand brush against the glasses that rested there, a veil over his eyes ...He took them off slowly, staring at them with the familiar feeling of sadness rising in him. He realized something that he didn't think was at all possible. "He...never did wake up did he?" Of course not, how could he have? He'd been brain dead ever since he'd been brought back from Sound.

Konohamaru clinched the glasses delicately in his hands as he hung up the phone, and just stood there. He didn't understand this, something told him the man was really dead, but he didn't question it, he didn't question any of it. He knew it.

He just stared down at the glasses in his hands, more tears forming in his eyes. "Thanks Ebisu...for everything..."

! - ! - !


	29. Chapter 29: A level of Normalcy

Chapter 29: A level of normalcy

"Alright, this is the gas." Gai explained, he leaned over the window of his prized forest green sports car he'd built almost entirely by himself. Lee, the one from the past, sat anxiously in the driver seat with both hands gripping the wheel apprehensively. "Don't forget. If you don't remember anything I said, remember that."

Lee smiled and rubbed his head nervously, his memories retreating back to yesterday when he'd made the mistake of confusing the gas for the break and nearly ran them off the road in the process. Hey, he was learning "I won't this time Gai-sensei." He reassured the man, repeating Gai's words in his mind and committing them to memory mnemonicly.

Shikamaru sat on the side, mounted firmly on the ground with one leg stretched out and the other knee drawn in. Lee, the one from the future, sat beside him with Gai's laptop between his legs, all of them inside the same empty parking garage Gai had been using to repair his vehicle for a considerable amount of time now. "Going with them this time?" Lee asked.

Shikamaru shook his head, he didn't like cars very much, and he didn't even feel incline to for his Lee's sake. "No chance." He muttered, cradling his right arm in his hand, his thumb running over it gingerly His mind was fixed on comprehending the changes, increasingly since yesterday, when it had turned completely black again, as black as darkness itself. What perplexed him the most was that he couldn't feel his arm anymore after that, though he could feel a series of new things, his arm wasn't one of them. "What are you doing?" He said, turning his distracted attention from himself on to Lee.

Lee stared down at the screen looking over whatever text resided there. "Remember that letter you two got from the past? Well it got me thinking, and I'm researching SDI, to see if I can dig up anything else."

"Hmm..." Shikamaru nodded, he was curious, since the first time he and his own Lee endeavored some research they'd learned all of their friends ended up dead or missing for some reason. He wanted details, he wanted to see the rest of that letter. "Tell me if you find anything."

! - ! - !

Naruto's mouth opened wide with a deep yaw and sat upright with sleepy eyes, stretching his arms high above his head to loosen stiffened muscles. One leg hung lazily off the edge while the other one stretched out before him, 'This thing isn't good for sleeping.' He decided, scratching the messy blond hair. Naruto turned slowly toward the stairs and his attention to the sound that rosed him from his sleep in the first place. By then Sasuke was standing above him, fully dressed. "What time is it?"

"About 10." Sasuke said simply, sitting down beside Naruto.

Naruto let his head fall back against the backrest and stared through the upside down vision of the windows heavy with sunlight shining through the living room door. It was warm, the whole room held an aspect of warmth, a feeling the air of this house was starting to change. "Oh..."

"Waiting for him huh?" Sasuke folded his arms and glanced over at Naruto who stared back at him with a sleepy smile growing across his face.

"Yeah, he never came back yesterday did he?" Naruto's body drifted back down and he sprawled out messily across the couch in his previous position beside Sasuke, closing his eyes. "I'm kinda worried about him, with that whole Ebisu thing and all." Naruto was silent for a moment, before he opened his eyes and looked up at the Uchiha seriously. "What..."An aspect of skepticism came in to his voice and expression. "What was that? They said he was dead, they said he never woke up...they had his body..."

Sasuke's eyes didn't waver a bit, only showing the slightest bit of uncertainty, "Honestly Naruto, I have no idea." It didn't matter, there were already things he couldn't understand. Shikamaru's use of Chakra and jutsu, Lee's new ability to do the same using a plant, Kabuto's curse seal, that night Nightmare attacked, and now Ebisu was just added to the list. '...No Idea...'

"Yeah, thought not." Naruto let his eyes drift closed and his arms rest on top of his stomach lazily. "Konohamaru must be pretty freaked out, I guess that's why he hasn't shown up."

"Aren't we all." Sasuke snorted, finding some indescribable feeling of interested amusement in the strange situation. Whatever it was it made him feel as a small child, just taking in everything that came to their senses and was committed to their memory as it came. "What about you?"

"We brought him clothes..." Naruto voice was distant with thoughts of something he couldn't understand, something he couldn't comprehend, it confused and scared him. "I saw him get dressed, I...I touched him. But they had his body the whole time."

"Naruto, your thinking about this too much." Sasuke sighed.

"They had him, but Iruka, and Asuma, and Kakashi, all of them, they were with him, he killed somebody, how could he-"

Sasuke slipped his hands into the strands of Naruto's hair, slowly leaning down to press his lips to the boy's, slipping his tongue in to the unsuspecting mouth with a gentle, promiscuous kiss. Naruto's eyes shot open, finding himself staring up at Sasuke's neck, and suddenly, in that position, being drawn into an upside down kiss, everything was simple. The confusion inanely drifted away as if it hadn't mattered at all.

Naruto's eyes withdrew behind his eye lids, lifting one hand and immersing his fingers into the dark entanglement of Sasuke's hair.

! - ! - !

This... what was this anyway?

Konohamaru sat on the soft, black leather of a couch, feeling his body sink into the furniture slightly, cradling his back. He stared down with a distracted vision at a black object in his hands.

Itachi and Kisame's safe house was always a place he could come when he needed to think, it seemed today he was more able to then in previous times. Kisame sat in a chair beside the couch, sleeping silently with a dormant, death-like state that could only come from training himself to be so. Konohamaru looked up at the sleeping man, contemplating the notion of waking him up and asking for training. After the aggravated obscenities he probably do it.

'Nah..' Konohamaru shook his head and returned his eyes to the floor, every time he looked at Kisame he couldn't help but think of how the Akatsuki member helped him the day after his grandfather was killed. How Kisame held him, comforted him, how he somehow managed to do those actions and think nothing of them. Konohamaru wasn't nearly as disregarding of it, he felt embarrassed about needing it, though more in an ashamed way. Enough to make him want more training, maybe then he wouldn't feel so helpless when he remembered the somewhat happy memory. 'Kisame...'

Konohamaru flinched and quickly looked back, finding himself looking directly into Itachi's eyes. "Itachi!" Konohamaru quickly squandered his voice to keep from speaking too loudly, he knew it didn't take much to wake up Kisame. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Watching Kisame?" Itachi smirked with his own amusement as Konohamaru became flustered and a blush flushed across his cheeks. 'Heh.'

"No." Konohamaru shook his head with denial. "I was thinking about something." He attempted to clarify, even though he was lying.

Itachi sat down beside him, lifting one leg onto the coffee table resting in the center of the room. "Thinking about what?"

Konohamaru was silent for a moment, the small wondering in his mind of Itachi inquiring about him in his own introverted and indirect way. As strong and able as he was, he was also prideful, too prideful to ask the well being of the boy. He was like Kisame in this way, Kisame had the same problem, only eventually Kisame would repress whatever embarrassment he had and ask about his condition in a blunt statement. "Itachi...Have you ever seen something that you know you couldn't have, but your completely sure you did?"

"No."

"It figures." Konohamaru sighed, his fingers playing over the case in his hands, the feel finally reminded him to the object. A pair of black sunglasses he hadn't been able to let go of since the day prior. He looked down at Ebisu's favorite possession, in object that could rival Konohamaru's favor of his scarf. "Oh yeah, Itachi..." Konohamaru reached into the part of the blue scarf wrapped around his neck like a wide collar and slipped out a small case. "What is this?"

Itachi took the black case from Konohamaru's hand, looking through the clear top to a small black square surrounded by padding, a few numbers written across the surface, and the word 'ROM' stood out in particular. "Where did you get this?"

"I found it back in Sound." Konohamaru told him, still staring down at Ebisu's sunglasses in his hands.

Itachi handed the object back to him. "It's a rom-bios chip."

"Oh...what is it?"

"It holds start up information for a computer, it needs it to function."

Konohamaru nodded in understanding, so what was this thing for, and why was Orochimaru carrying it around? "Hmm..."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Kakashi let out a soft breath as he entered his apartment and pushed the door closed behind him. He didn't get more then a few steps farther before a soft beep began to emit from his waist. '!' Kakashi knew the sound well, though he wasn't expecting to hear it again so soon, or here for that matter. 'What the hell...?' Kakashi swiped the bomb detector off of his waist with one swift motion and looked at the screen with a quick glance. 'What the...'

To his surprise, it was sitting right in front of him, an open steel box on the kitchen table with circuitry and wiring completely exposed. 'Zabuza.' Kakashi looked over the half built device, and with an almost reflexive movement he pulled out a few of the wires, which he could identity with one look, and tossed them side.

Kakashi tensed when he felt a presence appear behind him with out the slightest hint, it took longer then he would have liked for him to sense the presence was familiar. Which left him with no problem with throwing a hard elbow back into the presence's face.

Zabuza staggered back a step from the blow that half crushed his nose. "Kakashi." With an aggravated grunt from the unforeseen attack, Zabuza didn't hesitate to throw a hard kick into Kakashi's back. Kakashi was knocked forward, falling to his knees, his chest crashing against the wall with a small grunt forced from his mouth. "Idiot." He snorted, one hand roughly clinching a fist full of Kakashi hair while he pressed his forearm against the back of Kakashi's neck and pinned his face against the wall.

"Is... that... so." The silver haired man forced out, his air way being pinned shut. Kakashi's hands planted themselves on top of the dry wall and pushed against it with all his strength, gaining himself a short elevation off the vertical surface. From there he was able to lift one leg and send a sharp kicking back into Zabuza's left knee. Zabuza fell off balance and Kakashi was easily able to pry himself out of the other man's hold, climbing to his feet and pivoting to face him. "What the hell are you doing?"

Zabuza took a small step forward after reclaiming his balance and threw a hard punch to Kakashi's face, "Me? I'm not punching people." Zabuza took a satisfaction in seeing his strike had hit with a hard enough force to cause the man to spill back against the same wall he'd just pined him against. Zabuza was physically stronger, though only a slight bit, certainly not to the extent of Gai's strength over both of them, but congruently Kakashi was slightly faster. Zabuza waisted no time throwing a right hook to his jaw.

Kakashi lifted his arm and entangled Zabuza's before he could make contact, then planted both hands on the man's shoulders and thrust the top of his head into Zabuza's. "Why the hell are you building a bomb on my table?" He asked, his voice calm with the usual cool he always spoke with. He drove his knee into the stunned Zabuza's stomach.

"Because I'm going to use it." He replied in a matter of factly tone, slipping his hands inbetween their bodies and catching Kakashi's knee. Then with swift movements he hooked his arm underneath Kakashi's elevated leg and wrapped his other arm around the bomb squad member's neck. With the visible tensing of his arm muscles he lifted the man's full weight off the ground, raising the large body above his head and then throwing him roughly into the wall.

"Ufff!" Kakashi's back slammed into the hard barrier and he slid to the floor with a loud clatter, his body shaking the ground subtly on impact. "Don't get cocky." Kakashi shot back. "I can do you one better." With an almost untraceably quick movement Kakashi rolled on to his stomach and bolted forward off the floor, wrapping his arms around Zabuza's waist before he could move out of range. Then he stood up completely, sweeping Zabuza off his feet at the same time as he lifted the man, and then threwing him upward by the capture hips. Zabuza was flung towards the ceiling, with his own reflexes he managed to press his hands against the overhead and keep from being cast into it. Then expectant of the motion, Kakashi slammed him back down to the ground hard enough to knock the wind audibly from his lungs. Because of the struggling he landed on his side, nearly dislocating his shoulder in the process.

"Not bad..." Zabuza took in a deep, gasping breath to reclaim the air driven from his lungs, then he quickly drew his legs from Kakashi's grasp. After a bare second of hesitance he lifted himself off the ground, balancing agilely on one hand, his body tilted on his side, and sent a swift kick across Kakashi's jaw to drive him back. The kitchen wasn't overly large, Zabuza quickly ran out of room and his foot hit the edge counter, which he used to his advantage, pushing off of it and driving another kick into the man's chest before flipping on to his feet.

Kakashi was knocked back into the wall, one hand clinching his chest where the last blow had come. Before he could recover and retaliate Zabuza pressed himself against him, hands clasped over his shoulder pinning him to the wall. "But I'm better." He said with a low, calm, dangerous voice, his fingers sliding up Kakashi's cheek teasing, slowly slipping into the edges of Kakashi's mask.

Kakashi pressed his hands against Zabuza's chest and pushed, attempting to pry the man away, but before he could manage to slip out of the confinement Zabuza's arms were wrapped tightly around him and he was locked in. "..."

Zabuza softly buried his face into Kakashi's neck, giving soft, chaste kisses from behind the bandages covering his mouth, keenly aware of Kakashi's breath growing harder against his shoulder. Finally he looked at Kakashi face to face, and tugged the other man's mask down completely, softly smirking to himself with a devilish look as he gased over the reviled features.

He leaned forward, his covered lips brushing against Kakashi's ear, softly whispering. "I'm better, Kakashi."

Kakashi tilted his head back and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. "No chance in hell."

"Really..." Zabuza nudged away the bandages around his mouth and hovered just above the skin of Kakashi's jaw, so close Kakashi could almost feel a fained connection. "Then why am I like this, and your like that?" Zabuza asked mockingly, slipping his knee inbetween Kakashi's leg and pressing his chest closer against man, farther implicating his position.

Kakashi let his head fall and duel tone eyes locked with Zabuza's, the lazy expression staring into the always serious. "Because I'm clearly the smart one."

Zabuza halted, his lips just before Kakashi's, merely a slight shift away from contact. Just one movement, one... small... movement... "So, you want me, come and get me." Zabuza whispered.

Kakashi merely leaned back into Zabuza's arms, his body relaxing slightly. Whispering back "I never make the first move."

! - ! - !

Iruka reached back, softly fumbling around a smooth, elevated surface until he felt the object he sought, a wrench, and picked it up... "Hmm..." Iruka looked up to e from where he resided in the cock pit of his wreaked plane and was currently working to bolting down everything. He had to admit, it was the most tedious part of his task, many of the bolts and nails and other things had to be tightened into place by hand where the location was to awkward to do it mechanically. The back left corner of the control panel mounted narrowly close beside the cockpit's frame was one of those places.

He sat on his knees, his body stretched out and turned awkwardly enough for his arm to slip into the narrow place to tighten that particular bolt. There was a small satisfaction in knowing there would be a panel here eventually and he'd never have to see this space again.

"Iruka!" A voice called out. "Hey, Iruka!"

"Konoha-" Iruka unfortunately lifted his head to fast and ended up slamming it into the frame of the closed windshield. "Ow..." Iruka rubbed the back of his head softly, thankful he hadn't installed the glass yet as he slipped through one of the wide openings. "Konohamaru?"

The boy looked around the wide, arching hanger that surrounded them, the concrete floor, the steel walls separating them from the level above. But his eyes were most readily drawn to Iruka's plane hanging from the ceiling by a multitude of thick chains, Konohamaru didn't even know they made them that large. "You did all of this yourself Iruka?" Konohamaru slipped his hands behind his head and took in the sight of an uncompleted air craft. Steel was sheeted over a flame resistant coating spayed over the frame, surrounding the wings and the hull, but the frame was still bare around the cockpit and a few spots on the top.

Iruka softly rubbed the scar abridging his nose with a small smile. "Not completely, I've had a lot of help from Asuma." Iruka planted his hand on the uncovered steel framing the cockpit and lept over it, landing with a soft clatter on the wing. "I got a few parts from the air force's treasury department." The brown haired man sat down on the tip, his legs hanging off in a child like manner as he dropped his hands into his pockets and leaned forward. "What are you doing here?"

Konohamaru came just underneath the wing and looked up at the man, now that he was closer and more light was upon his body, he could see his clothes were dirtied with dirt and oil, a small smudge of the black fluid smeared over his cheek from any manner of locations. "I came to give you this." He reached into his pocket and drew out the black case, giving it a small glance before he tossed it up to Iruka. Turning away with a small wave and running away. "I found it in Sound, Orochimaru dropped it." He called back before disappearing beyond the door.

"Wha-What? Orochimaru?" When he heard that Iruka nearly dropped it, but he snatched it out of the air and reclaimed a firm grip on it. "Konohamaru, wait a minute!" He called out, but by that time the boy was long gone, which made him even more curious as to what he'd just been given... Iruka looked down at it and the second his eyes met it he knew what it was, just... not it's purpose. 'Huh?'

"Iruka."

Iruka was so wrapped up in thought, the sound of his own name made him flinch, and for the second time he nearly dropped the case. That was the last thing he wanted to do. "Huh?"

Asuma slipped his hands into his pocket and looked up at Iruka from underneath the wing. "You look out of it, what are you thinking about?"

Iruka pushed himself off the wing and landed beside Asuma, holding up the case. "Konohamaru just gave this too me." His words held a suspicious curiousness to them, wondering first and foremost why Konohamaru had kept it from him so long. "He said Orochimaru dropped it back in Sound."

He needed only hear the word Orochimaru and already Asuma's interest was peeked . "Really..."

Iruka reached over to a chart nearby and grabbed a towel, softly wiping his hands."Got in plans today?"

"The hell with those, we have to find out what's on this."

! - ! - !

"No way in hell dobe." Sasuke rested his hands on his waist, speaking in firm manner that clearly meant the subject wasn't up for discussion. The flashlight in his hand shined downward across the ground, reaching deep into one of the many dark corners that resided down below the earth. He'd been searching the maze like paths of he basement underneath his house for a longer time then he would have liked, but he found Naruto by following the sounds, it wasn't hard.

Naruto let the bulky Gattling gun on his shoulder tilt down and rest on the dusty ground, it was so large, or he was just simply so short, that Jiroubou's weapon nearly spanned his entire body height. "Aw Sasuke!" He half-wined. "What are you so worried about?" Naruto's voice echoed off the stone walls, once smooth and strait were now protruding outward in uneven ledges and had sunken in considerably after who knew how many years. These passages in the basement had been here for more generations then Sasuke knew of. However, Naruto didn't seem to realize this.

Sasuke rolled his eyes in slight aggravation. "Old walls don't make good target's for practice idiot!"

Naruto shook his head with a discarding snort, slipping his hand underneath the rotating barrels and lifting the gun. "You worry to much, these are sold rock, a few bullets wont hurt." With an anxious smirk and a hasty energy coursing through his blood, he planted one foot behind him and pulled the trigger. The barrel began a quick spin and bullets spewed fourth a quick roar of spewed rounds in bright, split second flashes of muzzle fire illuminating the dark underground room.

Sasuke winced at the loud sounds that echoed off the empty walls and broken brick floors, he didn't know how Naruto could stand it. 'Hell if he can stand the sound of his own loud mouth I guess this is nothing.' Sasuke reached over and pushed the circular ring of barrels down, halting the fire . "Stop that!"

"See, hardly did anything at all." Naruto told him, picking up his own flash light and shining it on the wall he just fired upon. Besides the new holes, the wall was largely in tack.

Sasuke rubbed his temples, he felt a headache coming on. "Naruto, this basement is hundreds of years hold, if the noise doesn't make it cave in then those damn bullets will." Sasuke growled, the annoyment showing in his voice. He didn't liked the idea of his house falling through the ground. "This is stupid!"

Naruto grinned slightly, leaning toward Sasuke. "You want this gun don't you?" He half joked. "Your completely over reacting, what's the point of having a big basement if your not gonna use it?"

"Dobe, this is not how you use a..." Sasuke's words came to an unexpected stop as something else even better flooded into his mind, an idea... A satisfied smirk edged at his mouth and he looked down at the flashlight absentmindedly . "Didn't that monster come from somewhere down here? It was Nightmare wasn't it." He looked away innocently, as if he didn't know what he himself was talking about. "I've never really gone down here, who knows what else around this place, it's like a maze." Sasuke looked around thoughtfully, but shrugged and walked away. "But you have that gun, I'm sure you can manage. Just don't get lost."

Naruto flinched when he heard Sasuke's steps leave and the door shut the door behind him. "..." ... Suddenly Naruto began picking up sounds he never knew were there. "Oh shit..." His eyes shifted around nervously, his grip around the Gattling gun grew tighter. "Uh...Sasuke! Wait up!"

! - ! - !

"Stop! Stop!" Shikamaru clinched his throbbing forehead with both hands, Camera faithfully in his lap with the strap around his neck. He yelled a lot more loudly then he usually would have but this wasn't a normal situation, for him at lest.

At his friend's somewhat desperate plea, Lee slammed on the breaks, much to the dismay of Gai. 'No...' Gai cringed inwardly as he heard the sound of new tires skidding to a rough stop at the side of the road, normally he wouldn't have been so incline to the action, but he hated doing such actions when the tire's were new."Uhaa..." 'That's not good for the breaks...' The breaks were new too.

Lee turned around in the driver seat and looked back at Shikamaru how sat directly behind him on the white upholstery. "What! What! Are you alright?"

Shikamaru let out a strained groan, forcing one eye open to glance over at the future Lee siting worriedly beside him. "I can't take this." He coughed out, with a nauseous moan he opened the door and spilled out on the side of the highway, stumbling off the shoulder and into a grassy strip of land nearby. "Ohhaaa...Damnit." The world spun around before his eyes, his mind and his stomach certainly were doing the same, until finally he gave out and fell to the ground, landing on his back much harder then he anticipated. 'Ow...' His hands automatically clinched the camera that fell on to his chest.

Lee, the one from the future, was the first to his side, scrambling to the ground, hovering above him anxiously, "Shikamaru? What's wrong?" he was followed quickly by his own Lee and Gai on either sides. The sounds of cars passing loudly and in high traffic on the road near by made Shikamaru's headache worse.

"You." Shikamaru glared up at the Lee on the left, which he assumed was the one from the future, he got them confused sometimes. "This is your fault."

"What? What'd I do?"

"You talked me in to going along with this."

Gai lifted hand to his face and scratched his cheek softly with his index finger, some subtitle habit he'd had for as long as he could remember. "Shikamaru, are you feeling sick?" He asked needlessly, he already knew the answer though, he'd seen this quite a few times, from some of his friends in particular.

Shikamaru clinched his eyes shut "Yes..."

Gai sighed and nodded. "Yeah, motion sickness."

Lee, the one from the past, looked down at the nauseous boy questioningly. "Wait, you've never gotten motion sickness before."

Shikamaru clasped his hands over his head again, "No. But I certainly have it now." He half mumbled bitterly, staring up at the sky drifting lazily overhead, at lest this was calming. So he tried his best to focus on it, he loved the sky, the clouds, maybe if he just stared at them this would dull some. "But I've never been in a car with you before." His eyes drifted to the right where his Lee resided, green suit contrast to the sky. Nope, wasn't helping.

"Really...you think it's me?" The subject Lee glanced back at Gai's car with an self-consciously.

"I'm pretty sure of it." Gai folded his arms and nodded confidently.

"Yeah, it's you." Lee's counter part agreed.

"...I didn't think my driving was that bad."Lee sighed, dropping his head with a small embarrassment.

It was. If Gai was impulsive, Lee was ten times worse.

"Well for your first time, I guess it's normal." The future Lee said sympathetically, attempting to console him.. "Since your from the past and all."

"Uhaaa..." Shikamaru rolled on to his side and inanely curled in, divided between clinching his stomach and clinching his camera. His stomach was twisting knots and his head felt like something was about to burst out of it.

"Shikamaru..." Lee, from the past, placed his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder, unsure of what he was suppose to be doing, what he could be doing for the other boy. "Sorry...but still it couldn't have been me."

"It had to be." Lee's counter part shrugged.

"No way, I mean we were in the car with Gai-sensei driving, and I can count two times it was much worse then me." Lee said surely. "He dove out of a building while a tornado was coming, if that didn't make Shikamaru sick, there was no way I could have."

Lee, the one from the future, looked up at Gai with a small astonishment. "When was this?"

"It was during the storm." Gai told him.

"That is so cool!"

"Hnnnnggaaa." Shikamaru curled in farther, his left hand drifting away from the camera and clinching his right arm sub-consciously. "Damn...it."

Lee, from the future, took a quick look around them, then back down at Shikamaru curled up in the grass. "Hey wait...shouldn't motion sickness pass when the person is...not in motion?"

Gai looked over at both Lees, one of them, which ever one it was, was right. And Shikamaru could probably handle something like motion sickness a lot better then this. "Yes...it should." Gai slipped his hands over Shikamaru's shoulder and held the boy down flat on to his back. "Shikamaru, are you alright?"

"..." Shikamaru bit down on his bottom lip and tried to keep from screaming. "No..."

Lee, from the future, looked around again, as if he could find the source of this problem out there. Maybe he could, because he was drawing a blank here. "What's wrong with him?"

Lee, from the past, noticed something that seemed rather minuscule at first, but when he thought about it... "He's holding that arm..." Lee laid his hand softly on Shikamaru's right arm. "You arm hurts?"

Shikamaru nodded, his breathing heavy and his heart pounding as if it decided to run a race with out him.

"So what do we do about it?" Lee's counterpart asked, he was keenly aware of the current status of Shikamaru and his arm, something that could only be classified as a really extreme, and random, allergic reaction.

"I... don't know, but he can't just lay here." Gai said, slowly scooping Shikamaru into his arm and lifting him off the ground. "Come on."

! - !- !

"Thanks for leaving me!" Naruto shouted angrily, he pushed open a small door concealed in the wall beside the stairs that had closed on it's behind Sasuke. The living room was bright enough to force Naruto's eyes into a squint having just come from the dark dept of the basement, if it could be called that.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder, as if he hadn't been aware of Naruto's presence behind him. "Leave you? Your the one that wanted to stay down there." Sasuke replied, in that usual discarding, uncaring voice he always spoke with.

A voice that never failed to infuriate Naruto. Naruto immediately ran to catch up with Sasuke, leaning over his shoulder with an angry glare. "Your such a bastard."

"And your an idiot." Sasuke shot back.

Naruto growled furiously, pointing at the other boy accusingly. "You were really gonna leave me down there!"

Sasuke only shrugged, slipping beyond the couch and heading for the stairs."You went down their by yourself, you can find your own way out."

Naruto loudly dropped the large weapon he'd been so intent on practicing with, listing to it land on the hard wood with an echoing clatter. "I could have been eaten!"

Sasuke smirked with amusement, looking at Naruto fully this time. "Tch. What would want to eat you?"

Nope, Sasuke never failed to infuriate him, with that voice, and those eyes, and that demeanor. "Sasuke."

"You guys never change."

Both Naruto and Sasuke paused and looked back towards the sound of the intruding voice, they both were a little surprised to see Konohamaru standing there, even more surprised to see a slightly cheerful expression on his face with the traces of a smile on his lips, caused by the current exchange going on in front of him.

Naruto and Sasuke both looked at each other with the same silent, unsure look, neither certain exactly what to do or say next. A small silence passed over the three of them, much too long then there should have been, Konohamaru's smile diminished. "Uh...Konohamaru, We couldn't find you yesterday." Naruto finally spoke up. "What happened to you, where'd you go?"

Using the words Kisame and Itachi in his explanation wouldn't be the best course of action, he should have known they'd ask this. "I was with Lee and Shikamaru last night, I thought they'd know more about it then I did."

The air tensed when the implication of Ebisu was implied. "Well...Are you...alright?" Sasuke asked, mentally kicking himself for becoming this way every time a situation like this arose. He could speak easily in any other situation, why did he act like this now?

Konohamaru glared back at Sasuke with his own anger. "I'm fine." He as really getting sick of hearing that.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other again, and all Naruto could do was shrug, deciding to accept the answer for now. "Uh...alright..."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Iruka took in a deep breath and sunk into the chair, his head falling loudly onto the kitchen table and his eyes drifting lazily shut. "Uhaaannn..."

Asuma slipped into his apartment after Iruka, pushing the door softly shut behind him. "Iruka?" He slipped around the table, behind Iruka, leaning slowly over his shoulder and looking curiously upon the man's face. He couldn't help but smile when he saw the Iruka's features untense into a lazy relaxation and his breathing slow into a soft stirring. 'I guess it has been a pretty long day.'

It was fairly late by the time Asuma and Iruka returned. The chip Konohamaru gave them was no doubt important, anything that Orochimaru loses could be potentially important evidence. But they, by themselves, were unable to do it. So with their vocational duty in mind they took it back to their air base, on the other side of town, and turned it in. A piece of evidence that needed to be examined as soon as possible, but it turned out there was only one technologist on duty that could do it. At lest until the appropriate investigative branch got a hold of it So Iruka, being a pretty multifaceted technician himself, Iruka was called to help out. Asuma naturally stuck around, and he had to say, from what he understood of it, it was worth the waiting.

Asuma wrapped his arms around Iruka's chest, gently pulling the man off the table and upright in the chair with a strong embrace. "Let me sleep..." Iruka moaned softly, not even bothering to open his eyes.

Asuma rested his chin on Iruka's shoulder. "You don't wanna sleep here."

"Yes, yes I do." Iruka mumbled, letting the back of his head fall back on to the older man's shoulder, a soft warmth from the embrace surrounding his body and scent of Asuma and traces of smoke were inhaled with each breath.

Asuma's smile grew brighter, ruffling Iruka's drawn hair with his larger hands, almost child like in manner. "Alright, a little bit longer." He said, lifting his arm from around Iruka's chest and giving Iruka's head one last rub.

"Stop that." Iruka yawned, pushing Asuma's hand away and cracking his eyes open. "I'm not a little kid anymore, you have to stop doing that."

Asuma threw a dismissive wave back as he walked down the small hall leading from the kitchen, to the living room, to the bathroom, and ending at the bedroom. "Your still smaller then me."

Iruka rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms above his head, his mouth open wide with a deep breath. "So what..." He called back, propping his elbows on the table and cradling his head in his hands. "I'm not even that young anymore."

"Your still younger then me!" Asuma called back from, what it sounded like, the bed room.

Iruka's eyes drifted over to the window that rested over the kitchen sink, staring out at the night sky of Konoha and the bright city with a half sleeping gaze. It was late, surely after midnight. 'I wonder how Konohamaru's doing... I bet he went back to Sasuke's house by now... Too bad I didn't have time to call Kakashi, he really would have wanted to know what we found out. But I'm sure he'll hear about it in the morning, everybody's gonna hear about it in the morning... I wonder how Gai did, Lee's probably just as bad as he is...'

Iruka planted his hands on the table and slowly lifted himself up to his feet, pushing in the chair behind him and taking slow, heavy steps out of the kitchen. He was throughly satisfied with himself by the time he made it to Asuma's bed room for mustering the will power to move all this way, leaning against the doorway for support. By then Asuma had already stripped himself off his shirt and was now unbuttoning his pants. "Iruka." He smiled again he he saw the man standing there barely conscious, he quickly shoved his pants down and kicked them away after they pooled at his ankles, leaving him in nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs.

And as soon as Iruka saw Asuma's lack of clothing, and the formfitting attire, a bright flush came to his cheeks and he couldn't seem to figure out what to do with himself. He looked away, if he wasn't awake before he was certainly a lot more aware now.

An impish smirk appeared on Asuma's face when he saw the reaction that came over Iruka, just like always. Every time he was in this particular state of dress Iruka became as rambling and nervous as he did when he was a kid, he wasn't sure why it was Iruka was still this way after so long. But it was flattering at the lest.

By the time Iruka looked up again Asuma was standing in front of him, hanging over him close enough to make the man's blush grow deeper. "Asuma..."

"I couldn't resist." Asuma slipped a hand beneath Iruka's chin, admiring the tired features. Iruka always looked cuter when he was tired, he just...couldn't... Asuma lent down, pressing his lips against Iruka's and slipping his tongue into the still mouth. His eyes remained open, watching Iruka's blush grow deeper and his eyes drift shut.

It took a moment, Iruka finally gave in, he slipped his arms around Asuma's neck and leaned upward, trying to close height difference. An energy stirred in the pit of his stomach, blood rushing through his veins, heating his skin. "Asuma..." Iruka tilted his head back, silently withdrawing the kiss as he felt Asuma's arms wrap around his waist. "Eh?" Iruka couldn't hold back the galvanized squeak when he felt Asuma lifted him abruptly off of his feet.

Asuma set the man's back softly against the bed with the up most care and delicacy before he laid himself down atop Iruka, moving guardedly as if he'd possibly hurt him. Heat swelled upward from Iruka below, the warmth pressing against Asuma's torso from between Iruka's legs. "Asuma." Iruka looked up at him with a harsh expression, he was too tired for this!

Asuma's rather impish smirk grew wider as his hand slipped away from Iruka's waist and promptly cuffed over the man's crotch, his fingers pressing teasingly through the fabric of his pants, the source of the heat. Iruka drew in a sharp moan, the action wasn't helping his already prevalent blush. "Un..." Iruka tilted his head back, Asuma's other hand planted captivity on his chest, the man's mouth slipping way from his lips, softly kissing and sucking along Iruka's jawline.

Iruka was two far gone by the time Asuma's hand slipped down his chest, finger tips gracing across the soft skin of his stomach, tracing a decent to the waist band of his pants and quickly unbuttoning them. Asuma's tongue slipped out of his mouth and softly ran the wet flesh over the soft skin beyond Iruka's flesh, soft vibrations eliciting from another moan. 'He looks so cute like this.' Asuma admired the vision silently, watching Iruka's gentle features twinge with growing repression.

Asuma tugged Iruka's loosened pants down just past the man's knees and slipped his fingers into the blue boxers that resided there. "You look really cute like that." Asuma whispered, giving Iruka a soft kiss on the cheek before he removed his hand from Iruka's chest and sat up.

"Huh?" Iruka opened his eyes questioningly when he felt the soothing administrations cease, something that would have lulled him to a comfortable sleep had it continued, and he was hoping it would. He propped himself up on to his elbows and glanced down, watching with the flushed red burning across his cheeks as Asuma positioned himself in front of Iruka's hips. 'Asuma...?' He watched as Asuma pushed down his boxers, and his heated cock drifted free, standing completely erect before Asuma's eyes.

Asuma climbed on to his knees above Iruka, his waist clad in the black fabric sitting face to face with the other man, who only grew hotter at the sight. "Paying attention back there?" Asuma teased.

"Ah, um..." Iruka smiled with the same rambling nervousness, feeling embarrassed for spacing off at a time like this."I-! Un!" He jumped slightly when a warm jolt spasmed up his spine as Asuma ran his tongue across the head of his cock, making the hardened appendage twitch slightly. Asuma wrapped his hand around Iruka's member, his fingers gently massaging his balls.,

"Ahhaa..." One eye winced shut, his mouth falling open with a small breath. Finally after a few seconds of hesitation, Iruka reached up and wrapped his arms around Asuma's waist above him, pulling down the tight black fabric and watching the other man's hardened member protrude readily before his eyes. It was marginally larger then his own, he had to admit. 'Whoa...Asuma...' Iruka lent upward and slipped the length past his lips, sucking diligently.

Asuma gently stroked along the bottom Iruka's member with his thumb, the tip of his tongue dragging through the small, sensitive crevice under the head Iruka's cock with skillful licks. He could feel the man begin to squirm underneath him, a soft moan slipping from Iruka, sending vibrations shaking along his member. "Uh..." Asuma wrapped his arms around Iruka's legs and held him still, taking the peak of Iruka's length into his mouth to flicking his tongue across the slit weeping with pre-cum.

"A-Asuma..." Iruka winced again and nearly pulled Asuma in too far, sucking the warm flesh harder. It was a little awkward for him, Asuma was large enough to make it difficult to do much in this position. So he slipped his hand down Asuma's waist, his fingers dragging down the firm ass until they were pressed against the ring muscles of the man's entrance. Iruka swirled his tongue over the head of Asuma's cock, taking hard sucks as he pushed his fingers into the tight opening.

"Uhn!" Asuma tensed, nearly bitting down on Iruka from the new pleasure drifting across his body. But he kept himself still, resting duel urges to buck back against Iruka's finger and thrust down into his mouth. Instead he tilted Iruka's cock back and lapped his tongue along the bottom of Iruka's member, before wrapping his mouth around Iruka completely.

"A...Asum...Unn..." Iruka's arms tightened around Asuma's hips and he tensed, then with a sharp exhale he lost his will, the anxious energy Asuma's actions energy were creating sent nervous jolts threw his body, and inevitably it became much to strong, he began to thrust upward into the wet warmth.

Asuma was surprised at this, but he quickly accommodated, his fingers clinching Iruka's leg steadily. Heat gathered as Iruka's blood pumped faster through out his body, his cock throbbed and twitched slightly, the small tremble growing stronger and stronger. '!' "Uhaa!" Iruka's mouth closed tightly around Asuma and he took a forceful, pressured suck, his whole body spasming as he came. "Asuma-sama!" He shouted as the warm seed spurted from his cock into Asuma's mouth, overflowing enough to for a subtle trail of cum to drip across the base of the softening member.

"Asuma..." Iruka cringed softly until all at once some invisible pressure faded and he finally relaxed with a tired sigh and heavy, warm breaths, taking soft, docile licks across the head of Asuma's cock. His finger gently messaged the inner muscles, pressing against the sensitive inward walls.

Asuma fell on to Iruka, his head resting on Iruka's leg, inhaling the distinct scent with every breath. The sense was sensually amazing, washing along his body from Iruka's fingers in his body and Iruka's mouth around him. The movements now were small and calm, but each one of them set his nerve endings on fire "Iruka..." He bit down on his bottom lip, his body growing ridge as cum streamed from his erection, filling Iruka's mouth and streaming down his chin with a small drop of saliva.

Asuma rolled over lazily, feeling his waist slipping out of Iruka's lose grasp. "Iruka?" Asuma lifted his head and looked curiously upon the man, finding his eyes closed and his features at a peaceful ease. 'He's asleep... I guess he was tired.'

Asuma smiled to himself again as he watched the calm traits of the man's face, crawling upward and giving him a soft kiss on the cheeks. "Good night...Iruka." Asuma laid beside him, wrapping his eyes around Iruka's back and pulling him close. Asuma tucked Iruka's head beneath his chin, and Iruka inanely snuggled closer to the older man with out consciousness. 'He really is cute when he's sleeping.' Asuma thought, his hand gently digging themselves into the long brunette strands of hair.

He couldn't help but watch admiringly.

! - ! - !


End file.
